Dundee made their exit from the Little Big Shot Scottish Youth Cup in dramatic fashion at the hands of rivals Dundee United.
An unfortunate own goal four minutes from the end of extra time by Kerr Waddell saw the Tannadice youngsters into the next round.
It was harsh on a Dundee side that had dominated most of the game and especially hard on young Waddell who had been one of the team’s top performers.
The Tannadice men had the better of the opening 20 minutes and efforts from Euan Spark and Ali Coote went close.
On the quarter hour mark the home side took a deserved lead when Aaron Duke reacted quickest to a ball into the Dundee area and the United striker prodded home from six yards.
Almost immediately, though, Dundee equalised. A poor kick out by Josh Donaldson saw Jesse CURRAN rob Scott Allardice and the Australian midfielder strode forward before firing the ball past Donaldson.
Josh Skelly almost gave the visitors the lead seven minutes later but his shot was well saved by Donaldson.
Ryan Gemmell and Kyle Clark both had chances but wanted too many touches before shooting and United cleared the danger.
Dundee were on top at this stage and again came close to taking the lead when Harry Souttar almost headed into his own net. Sean Gallacher tried to knock the ball over the line but Donaldson came to his side’s rescue with a goalline save.
United were a bit livelier after the break and Brad Smith hit the post with a 25-yard free kick.
Ben Priest then made a foray down the right before putting the ball into the danger area, but, unfortunately, the inrushing Gallacher couldn’t connect.
Dundee replaced John Black with 15-year-old Taylor Berry on 67 minutes.
From a Curran cross Waddell’s header hit the post with Donaldson beaten, but it was the home side who almost scored. Justin Johnson’s cross caused all sorts of problems in the Dee defence and Kyle Gourlay had to pull off a magnificent double save, from Jamie Robson and then Duke, to keep his side level.
As the game moved towards extra time Skelly brought out another fine save from Donaldson and the keeper was on hand to foil Skelly once again in the first minute of extra time.
United should have scored four minutes into the first period when Johnson burst into the Dundee box and set up Duke who failed to connect right in front of goal.
With six minutes remaining and penalties looking on the cards, Skelly hit a fierce drive from the angle of the box which rattled the United bar.
Two minutes later, the Tannadice youths claimed victory. A cross from the left was turned past his own keeper by Waddell. There was nothing the young central defender could do and it was a cruel way to go out of the cup for the Dundee youngsters who had given their all.
FT: Dundee Utd 2 Dundee 1 (aet)
Dundee Utd: Donaldson, Spark, Robson, Ballantyne, Souttar, Sukkar, Taylor (Tumilty 49), Smith, Duke, Coote (Johnson 46), Allardice (Davie 86).
Dundee: Gourlay, Gallacher, Priest, Waddell, Dryden, Gemmell, Curran, Colquhoun, Clark, Black (Berry 67), Skelly.
Report: Jim Davie
