On Tuesday 10th October Dundee travelled to the Forthbank Stadium to take on Stirling Albion in Ross McGeachie’s Testimonial match.
It was The Dee who started the match brightly with Zak Rudden having an early chance in the first minute. Rudden then again nearly opened the scoring two minutes later when Lewis laid the ball off to Rudden but the striker fired over the bar. Dundee’s early pressure paid off when McCowan opened the scoring. A well worked move started with Pineda who drove forward, Rudden then picked up the ball and played it wide to Robertson who delivered a low cross into the box which was met by McCowan who slotted the ball into the net.
Albion responded in the best possible way after going a goal down, they levelled the score three minutes later. Josh Cooper chased down a ball that looked like it was going out and managed to get a foot in front of Kerr and squeezed the ball past Legzdins and into the net. Stirling got a real lift from their goal and began pushing forward, putting pressure on the Dundee goal. Cooper was involved again but this time his shot was deflected out for a corner.
Pineda then had two chances in quick succession firstly heading over from a cross from McCowan and then was just unable to get a clean shot on goal after a cross from Rudden.
Albion continued to press forward and got their reward with a corner which was headed over by Clark. Mo Sylla then had a chance for Dundee, with his shot going just wide of the post. Pineda was involved again when the ball broke to him, but his shot hit the post and went back out.
The third goal of the game was on the half-hour mark and it was for the home side and was scored by the man of the night, Ross McGeachie. It started with a Stirling free-kick into the box which was not fully cleared and was picked up by McGeachie who hit a low driving shot into the back of the net.
Dundee nearly levelled the score minutes later when McCowan crossed into the box and found the head of Rudden, but his header hit the post and was then gathered by the keeper.
In the 39th minute, Albion nearly extended their lead, a good run and ball in from Dunsmore was met by Carrick but he just scooped the ball over the bar.
McCowan came close just before halftime, driving forward and skipping past a number of defenders before getting the shot away, but it was cleared away by the defender on the line.
Dundee made five changes for the second half with Portales, Lochhead, Wilkie, Allan, and Mohammed all coming on, replacing Kerr, Lamie, McCowan, Boateng and Rudden.
Dundee started the second half brightly with the young players Allan, Mohammed and Wilkie all looking lively. Three minutes into the half Dundee were level, Lewis drove forward and played in Wilkie who side-footed the ball into the bottom corner of the net.
The second half was much quieter than the first with a lot less chances created by both sides and both defences standing firm. On the hour mark Mo Sylla and Diego Pineda were replaced by Luke Graham and Euan Mutale. In the 67th minute Lewis drove forward again and once again played in Wilkie but this time the defender was able to just get in front of Wilkie making an important block. Young Sebastian Lochhead came off in the 70th minute due to injury and was replaced by Marley Sweenie-Rowe. Just after this substitute Stirling nearly went in front again when Keiran Moore had a shot outside of the box but it went just over the bar.
The young players for Dundee were involved again when Graham found Mohammed in the box, but Mohammed was just unable to get his shot away and played it back to Sweenie-Rowe who fired a shot wide.
Stirling made several substitutes in the second half with both the manager and assistant manager taking to the field.
Mutale had a chance five minutes from time but pulled his shot wide of the post. There were no more goals in the match with the game finishing 2-2.
Dundee: Legzdins, Kerr(Portales-45mins), Ashcroft, Lamie (Lochhead 45 mins – Sweenie-Rowe 70 mins), Roberson, Sylla (Graham 60 mins), Lewis, McCowan (Wilkie 45 mins), Pineda (Mutale), Rudden (Mohammed)
Goals: McCowan – 11 mins – Wilkie – 48 mins
Stirling Albion: Weir, McGeachie, Clark, McLean, Dunsmore, Carrick, Banner, Wilson, Miller, Cooper, Hilson.
Goals: Cooper- 14 mins – McGeachie 30 mins
