Dundee lost 2-1 at Falkirk this afternoon. The Dark Blues had the edge in a first half in which they took the lead from Clark Robertson’s header at a corner. Falkirk started the second half strongly and equalised when the ball cannoned off Robertson and into the net. Dundee struggled to contain the Bairns for 20 minutes, but dug their way back into the game. The Dee were well placed to take a point until a collective loss of concentration allowed Bairns’ centre back Connor Allan to run from the half way line and score the winner in the 89th minute.
It was no surprise that the Dark Blues’ starting eleven was unchanged following last week’s won over Celtic. Dundee kicked off and spent the first three minutes pegging Falkirk back. The Bairns failed to clear a long throw and Simon Murray’s close range shot was blocked after 60 seconds.
After a nervous opening by the home side they began to take the game to Dundee. The home side played some neat football a long way from the Dee goal but could not create even a half chance in a first half that went the way the Dark Blues would have wanted.
With far less possession Dundee offered occasional moments of threat on the break, but the Dee’s real danger came from set pieces. After 26 minutes the Dark Blues took the lead with a neatly worked corner. Cameron Congreve flighted the ball to the near post and Clark ROBERTSON had lost his marker to head into the bottom corner from five yards.
Dundee held Falkirk at bay comfortably for the remainder of the first half. Ten minutes from the interval there was a strange and controversial incident when Ethan Hamilton was caught with a late challenge by Kyrell Wilson in the penalty area. He got to the ball first but the referee showed a yellow card to Hamilton. A VAR review did not change the referee’s mind. It was a particularly important call because Wilson had already been booked and a penalty to Dundee might have reduced Falkirk to 10 men.
It was no surprise that Falkirk emerged for the second half with far more purpose and energy in attack. However, the Bairns were almost gifted an equaliser by a careless pass by Jon McCracken that went straight to Kyrell Wilson. Calvin Miller should have taken advantage from the resulting chance but clipped the top of the bar with his shot from 12 yards.
Falkirk now had some serious momentum. They kept attacking and equalised after 55 minutes. A deep cross found Ethan Williams beyond the far post and his fierce low cross shot struck Clark Robertson and flew into the net. The Bairns almost scored again a minute later when Keelan Adams’ cross struck Ross McIver on the shoulder and drifted wide of McCracken and against the post.
There was another scare when a penalty box scramble gave Calvin Miller a fleeting opportunity to stab a shot from 12 yards that was heading inside the far post and McCracken did well to push it away. Dylan Tait followed up with a 20 yarder that McCracken touched over the bar.
After a tough 20 minutes in which the Dark Blues rode their luck they managed to calm the game down following some well judged substitutions. Emile Acquah, Yan Dhanda, Callum Jones and Tony Yogane came on for Simon Murray, Cameron Congreve, Paul Digby and Joe Westley. Dundee were now able to exercise some level of control in midfield and get forward more.
Yogane had a few good runs down the right, but only one of them led to a cross that troubled the Falkirk defence. Acquah’s header at the far post was blocked.
Without creating any good chances in the second half Dundee had at least worked themselves into a position where they should have taken a point, and looked at least as likely as Falkirk to dig out a late winner.
Frustratingly a calamitous loss of concentration cost the Dark Blues a point after 89 minutes. A freakish bounce of the ball on the half way line as Dundee tried to break took out three Dees and delivered the ball to home centre back Connor Allan. The Dark Blues seemed to be expecting him to offload the ball and allowed him to run through without any meaninngful challenge. Once ALLAN reached the penalty area he checked inside and poked a low shot past McCracken. It was an impressive piece of daring and skill, but from the Dundee perspective it was shocking defending.
Dundee were solid and competent in the first half without being particularly creative. In the second half they allowed Falkirk back into the game too easily. After the Dark Blues recovered and took the sting out of Falkirk’s energetic attacking they should have been able to see the game out safely. The late goal came out of nothing when the team switched off and were too passive as Falkirk helped themselves to the winner. That failing was particularly disappointing after the Dark Blues’ relentless focus and concentration last week against Celtic.
Falkirk FC 4-2-3-1
Bain
Adams, Allan, Henderson, Lissah
Spencer (c), Tait (Arfield 81)
Wilson (Yeats 73), Williams (Samuel-Ogunsuyi 88), Miller (Cartwright 81)
MacIver (Agyeman 73)
Unused subs: Hogarth (gk), Graham, Arfield, Hart.
Goals: Clark Robertson og (55), Allan (89).
Booked: Wilson (foul on Samuels), Lissah (foul on Yogane).
Dundee 3-4-3
Jon McCracken
Ryan Astley, Clark Robertson, Luke Graham
Drey Wright, Paul Digby (Callum Jones 70), Ethan Hamilton, Imari Samuels
Cameron Congreve (Tony Yogane 70), Simon Murray (c) (Emile Acquah 67), Joe Westley (Yan Dhanda 70)
Unused substitutes: Kieran O’Hara (gk), Ethan Ingram, Aaron Donnelly, Fin Robertson, Ash Hay.
Booked: Hamilton (unclear, no obvious foul), Clark Robertson (dissent).
Attendance: 7,652 (815 Dees).
Referee: Ross Hardie. Assistants: Calum Spence, Jonathan Bell. VAR: Andrew Dallas. Assistant VAR: Alan Mulvanny.
Report: James Christie.
