An astonishing comeback rescued a derby point for Dundee with two goals in added time after Dundee United were leading 2-0 with 90 minutes on the clock. An evenly matched first half began to swing United’s way in the last few minutes before half time and after the restart they took a deserved two goal lead with scores from an Amar Fatah penalty and Luca Stephenson’s header. Defeat seemed inevitable but substitute Ash Hay gave the supporters a glimmer of hope when he pulled a goal back in the fourth minute of added time and, at the very last gasp, Robertson’s free kick was turned into his own net by United’s Ross Graham, triggering frantic, ecstatic celebrations from every Dee on the pitch and in the stands.
The Dark Blues were unchanged for the fourth game in a row, but the team struggled to reproduce the good football we have been seeing lately.
The game took a while to get going as we saw more energy than excitement or quality in the early stages. United had the first chance when Iurie Iovu headed over from the second ball following a corner.
Cameron Congreve and Tony Yogane had the beating of United’s defenders and began to look increasingly dangerous, continually threatening to create chances but without anything quite paying off. Of United’s front three Max Watters and Neil Farrugia were largely anonymous in the first half but Omar Fatah, the third man, was a constant menace.
As the half hour approached both teams came close to taking the lead. Congreve skillfully made space and his cross took a deflection that caught out Maynard-Brewer in the United goal but the keeper recovered in time to stop the ball looping into the net, and United cleared in the resulting scramble. United raced up the park and Fatah dribbled into the penalty area and Jon McCracken saved his angled shot with his feet.
The Dark Blues responded with some promising attacking. Yogane cut in from the left and his fierce shot was turned wide by Iovu’s head. After that encouraging 10 minute spell United turned the screw on the Dee defence for the last few minutes of the half and could well have opened the scoring before the interval.
McCracken again saved with his feet from Fatah and then pulled off a great save to turn Vicko Sevelj’s fierce shot out for a corner.
In those last five minutes of the first half the Dee were unable to hold the ball and allowed United to build attacks at will with little interference. That was ominous for Dundee and it set the pattern for almost the whole second half.
Luca Stephenson missed a decent chance a minute after the restart when Will Ferry’s cross broke to him and he slashed his shot wildly over the bar.
United took the lead after 50 minutes from a penalty. A long throw broke to Emmanuel Agyei’s whose attempted pass struck Simon Murray’s arm. Amar FATAH tucked the penalty away without any fuss and there was no arguing that United deserved it.
United were in charge and there was little response from the Dark Blues. Dundee prepared to make a double substitution on the hour mark, but it took five minutes because the ball would not go out of play. Those minutes were perhaps the worst spell of the game for the Dee. Dundee kept giving the ball away and failing to clear effectively, almost inviting United to attack. Eventually the miserable passage of play ended with Ferry hoisting a high ball to the far post and Luca STEPHENSON arriving unmarked to head the second goal home off the crossbar.
Only then could Ash Hay and Joe Westley come on for Simon Murray and Joel Cotterill. There was no immediate reaction and United were still controlling the match. Scott Wright, Fin Robertson and Charlie Reilly came on for Tony Yogane, Cam Congreve and Yan Dhanda as the Dark Blues tried desperately to get a foothold in the match.
Finally, as the clock ticked past 80 minutes Dundee began to get forward, making the United defence work. There was still no end product, however. A cross did bounce off a United defender and into the net, but Hay was offside before he crossed.
United could have gone further ahead after 85 minutes but McCracken saved superbly from substitute Jonny Russell. That was the crucial moment on which the match turned.
As the game entered five minutes of added time the Arabs were crowing noisily. They were convinced, with good reason, that the points were in the bag. But anything can happen in a derby, and oh boy, we sure saw an astonishing climax.
90+3 minutes Dundee win a corner on the right, in front of the South Enclosure.
90+4 Fin Robertson sends in a fine delivery to the far post. Luke Graham is strongest and heads down. The ball breaks to Ash HAY and he can’t miss from about six inches. Surely it’s a consolation and there is no time for an equaliser? Surely not!
90+5 From the kick-off Dundee try to get forward but Graham wipes out Hay 10 yards inside the United half. Both teams, including Jon McCracken, line up on the edge of United’s penalty area.
90+6 Robertson flights a perfect ball into no-mans land between the United defence and keeper. GRAHAM loses his bearings as he backtracks and his attempted headed clearance flies into the top corner of his own net. Bedlam ensues round three sides of the ground as the Dees in the stands celebrate wildly a comeback they hardly dared dream might happen!
That was it. The referee blew the final whistle as soon as the game restarted. The Dundee supporters sang and celebrated till the players left the pitch. It was indeed a beautiful Sunday, or at least an unforgettably gorgeous few minutes of added time.
Dundee played reasonably well in the first half without ever quite clicking into top gear. But from the 40 minute mark onwards the performance was persistently poor. United should have seen the game out comfortably. It was astonishing how they folded at the end when the Dark Blues flourished their get-out-of-jail-free card.
Jon McCracken rightly got plenty of praise last week, and today he was by some distance the Dee’s top player. Without his saves United could have cruised to an easy victory. The Dee keeper kept the team in the game and made the comeback possible. The starting line-up didn’t deliver, but the substitutes did have an impact and dug Dundee out of a hole.
Rescuing this game from seemingly certain defeat was hugely enjoyable for the supporters, but Dundee will have to get back on track and reach the standards they have set recently. Apart from those six minutes of added time the Dark Blues were not good enough today. In the end, however, they did give us something we will remember for many years to come.
Dundee 4-1-4-1
Jon McCracken
Drey Wright, Ryan Astley, Luke Graham, Imari Samuels
Ethan Hamilton
Cameron Congreve (Charlie Reilly 80), Joel Cotterill (Joe Westley 67), Yan Dhanda (Fin Robertson 80), Tony Yogane (Scott Wright 75)
Simon Murray (c) (Ash Hay 67)
Unused substitutes: Kieran O’Hara (gk), Billy Koumetio, Brad Halliday, Callum Jones.
Goals: Hay (90+4), Graham og (90+6).
Booked: Hamilton (dissent).
Dundee Utd 3-4-3
Maynard-Brewer
Iovu (Camara 60), Graham, Keresztes
Stephenson (Strain 82), Sevelj, Agyei, Ferry
Farrugia (Russell 82), Watters (Sapsford 71), Fatah
Unused substitutes: Richards (gk), Esselink, Eskesen, Dolcek, Cleall-Harding.
Goals: Fatah (pen 50), Stephenson (66).
Booked: Iovu (foul on Yogane), Sevelj (timewasting), Ferry (foul on Reilly), Graham (foul on Hay).
Attendance: 11,010.
Referee: Duncan Nicolson. Assistants: David Roome, Chris Rae. VAR: Andrew Dallas. Assistant VAR: Gavin Duncan.
Report: James Christie.
