The Dark Blues started their pre-season campaign with a solid 2-0 win over Arbroath at Gayfield. The Dee had to cope with a strong wind in their faces in the first half. They should have taken the lead when Charlie Reilly was fouled for a penalty but Simon Murray’s spot kick was saved. Dundee made nine changes at half time and went ahead three minutes after the restart. Drey Wright scored straight from a corner. Midway through the second half trialist Tommy McDermott finished off a neat move to make it two and Dundee held on comfortably to earn a deserved win.
The first 15 minutes offered no real goal threat as both teams struggled to cope with a strong, gusting wind that made even short and simple passes something of a gamble. The wind was firmly in the faces of the Dark Blues who offered little attacking threat in the opening exchanges and Arbroath only caused problems with a couple of long throws launched swirling into the goalmouth.
The game burst into life after 16 minutes when Charlie Reilly pounced on a loose dropping ball and burst clear past two defenders into the penalty area. As he was about to shoot he was tripped from behind and landed heavily, seeming to hurt his shoulder. That flash of skill was all we saw of the desperately unlucky Reilly and it was the end of his game.
Keeper Aidan McAdams went the right way and saved Simon Murray’s penalty, but that disappointment hardly compared with Charlie Reilly’s injury. Dundee played on for 10 minutes before replacing him with trialist Tommy McDermott.
The game settled back into a scrappy exchange with the odd flash of neat football invariably ending with a misplaced pass or a failure to judge the effect of the wind.
Dundee’s three at the back were comfortable on the ball, finding space and exchanging passes calmly when Arbroath pressed, but the midfield and attack couldn’t get going.
At half time Dundee made nine changes, retaining only McDermott and Hunter. The youthful Dark Blues now had the wind at their back and they took full advantage when they won a corner shortly after the restart. Drey WRIGHT’s wicked inswinging corner flew over the keeper and into the top corner.
This was an inexperienced Dee line-up but they were never in any real trouble after that. They remained in charge and always looked like holding on to their lead.
The youngsters remained composed in midfield and kept threatening to break through and add further goals. Chespi pleased the travelling Dees with some skillful touches, verging on the flashy, in the Lichties’ half. Emile Acquah almost broke free a couple of times, but the ball never quite ran for him.
It was no surprise when the second goal arrived. Wright moved down the right and switched the ball inside to Chespi. The Mexican spotted Tommy McDERMOTT’s run and his quiclk pass sent the trialist in to shoot high into the net from 12 yards.
After 75 minutes Dundee made three more changes, sending on three more youngsters in the place of Acquah, McDermott and Wright. For the last 15 minutes the oldest outfield player was Imari Samuels, born in 2003. Finally Arbroath managed to put Dundee under some pressure but the defence held firm and Trevor Carson didn’t have to make anything more than a couple of straightforward saves.
The first pre-season friendly is rarely a memorable game, but this was a pleasing performance by a young Dee squad in difficult conditions. The more experienced first half team might have had trouble playing pretty football against the wind, but they never allowed the Lichties to take advantage of the conditions. In the second half the young team took control with the wind behind them and were always the better side. 18 year old Michael Hunter was the only Dee to play the full 90 minutes.
It was a good workout to start the season, and the only disappointment was the sad sight of the injured Charlie Reilly leaving the pitch after winning a penalty. If any player deserves a run of good luck it’s him.
Arbroath FC 4-4-2
McAdams
Steele, O’Brien (McGinn 75), Muirhead, Wilkie
Stewart, Pettifer, Flynn (Connolly 59), Stenhouse (Hickey-Fugaccia at half time, Callaghan 75)
Reilly (Panayiotou at half time), Spalding (Todorov at half time)
Unused subs: Pettigrew (gk).
Booked: none.
Dundee FC 1st half 3-4-2-1
Jon McCracken
Ryan Astley, Billy Koumetio, Luke Graham
Ethan Ingram, Paul Digby, Cesar Garza, Michael Hunter
Charlie Reilly (trialist Tommy McDermott 26), Finlay Robertson
Simon Murray
Dundee FC 2nd half 4-4-1-1
Trevor Carson
Drey Wright (Wallace Baird 75), Aaron Donnelly, Toby Davies-Brown, Imari Samuels
Michael Hunter, Ethan Crombie, Tommy McDermott (Ryan Bland 75), Chase Scott
Victor ‘Chespi’ Lopez
Emile Acquah (Ashton Leiper 75)
Unused substitutes: Harry Sharp (gk).
Goals: Wright (48), McDermott (68).
Booked: McDermott (foul on Stewart), Donnelly (foul on Wilkie).
Referee: Jamie McCunnie. Assistants: Steven Traynor, Nathan Clac-Mansfield.
Attendance: 2,425.
Report: James Christie.
