On Friday night we take on Cove Rangers in our last home league match of the season and our penultimate game of the league campaign. With two matches remaining Dundee remain top of the Cinch Championship, one point ahead of Queens Park in second position. The team is currently on an eight match unbeaten run, having won four and drawn four. Last Saturday saw the Dee leave Inverness with a point after a 1-1 draw. Lyall Cameron had put us ahead on the hour mark but 15 minutes later the hosts levelled. The team knows that the league title is currently in their own hands with two matches remaining and will be determined to win on Friday night to keep it that way. If we win on Friday night and Queens lose on Saturday against Morton we will be crowned Champions on Saturday afternoon. A Queens win or a draw will mean the title will be decided on the final day of the season when the two sides face off against each other. But the players will be very much focused on themselves, what they can control, and the match on Friday night against Cove and know the importance of getting three points on Friday night.
Friday’s opponents Cove Rangers will also be desperate to take three points from this match as they look to move off the bottom of the table. They are currently level on points with 9th place Hamilton but have a worse goal difference. Last Saturday Cove earned an extremely valuable three points in their quest for safety as they defeated Arbroath 1-0 away from home. Before last Saturday Cove had only picked up two points out of a potential thirty. But last week’s victory will have given them real belief they can move off the foot of the table.
This will be the third meeting of the teams in 2023 and the fourth of this league campaign. The first meeting of the sides in October 2022 at the Balmoral Stadium saw Cove defeat us 3-1. Cove visited the Kilmac Stadium in February this year where we ran out as 3-0 winners. The last meeting only back at the start of March at Balmoral saw us leave with three points after a 2-0 victory. Three points are vital to both teams on Friday night.
Team News
There are no fresh injuries ahead of this game.
The Manager – Gary Bowyer
“It’s no different for us, it is the next game, our preparations are exactly the same as it’s been from the very first game of the season.
“All we can do is concentrate on ourselves and just concentrate on that game. We know on Friday it is going to be a tough game against Cove, obviously they are fighting for their lives and they had a wonderful win last week as well. We just concentrate on that and we have no control over any other game at the weekend.
“I thought for large parts of the game last weekend we were very good, with how we started the game and the first half performance and if I was being ultra critical it was the fact we didn’t convert the opportunities that we had.
“I thought our fans in our last home game against Morton when we were 3-1 down really played their part and they got us the draw in the end with the noise that they made and we’ll be looking for them to do that again on Friday, encourage every pass and every tackle and give them the boost that the players sometimes need.
“They are fighting for their lives, and they’ve got players that can produce on the day as we know but it’s all about us and how we go about it.”
Luke Hannant
“We just go into it like any other normal game, we know there is a bit of outside noise going into the game about what might lead to it if the result goes our way, but we’re just concentrating on what we can affect and how we can control the game.
“We just need to give 100% to every game like the boys have been doing, the unbeaten run we have been on in the last few weeks has been brilliant. There’s no reason to put extra pressure on ourselves, we know what we need to do, go out there, and just continue to play the way we have been.”
Ticket Information
Tickets can be bought online or from the Ticket Office.
SEASON TICKET VOUCHER – 18
Prices are as follows:
Adults – £24
O65s/Student – £16
U18s – £10
U12s – £2
Tickets for under 12s must be bought in-store and proof of age is required when purchasing.
Supporters wishing to attend who require disability access can only purchase tickets from the Ticket Office.
Coverage
The match is live on BBC Scotland.
Overseas subscribers will be able to watch live on DeeTV, and those in the UK will get audio commentary.
We will have live updates on our official Twitter feed and half-time and full-time scores will be posted on our official Facebook and Instagram page.
A full match replay, highlights, and post-match interviews will be available after the match on DeeTV.
