Dundee went down to a 3-2 defeat at home to Kilmarnock this afternoon. The Dark Blues dominated a first half and deserved to take the lead from Ziyad Larkeche. The game swung on Mo Sylla’s red card late in the first half. The Dee’s 10 men held on well and should have taken all three points when Seun Adewumi made it two. However, the defence crumbled in the last few minutes and two goals from Matty Kennedy and one from Bruce Anderson gave Killie the win.
Dundee started with a series of eye-pleasing attacks, mostly figuring the passing of Lyall Cameron and the aggressive attacking of wing backs Ethan Ingram and Ziyad Larkeche.
Scott Tiffoney, playing in the number 10 role behind the two strikers, sent Larkeche into the penalty area. The Frenchman beat his first man, but his cut back was cleared.
Curtis Main ran into the penalty area to take a lovely through ball from Billy Koumetio only for his first touch to let him down.
Larkeche picked up a loose ball and smashed a ferocious rising shot just past the post from 20 yards.
Two minutes later Larkeche found the right side of the post. In the 24th minute Cameron had space to attack the penalty area and pick his pass. He played a clever, disguised reverse pass for Ziyad LARKECHE to race in, take a touch and score with a low drive off the inside of the far post.
The Dark Blues were well worth their lead and were the better side for the rest off the half. Killie were struggling to make an impact on the game and Dundee seemed sure to reach half time in a strong position.
The game turned on a refereeing decision after 43 minutes. Mo Sylla picked up a second yellow card in circumstances that puzzled the BBC Scotland pundits who pored over the replays.
From being passive, without any cutting edge, Killie were transformed in the five minutes of added time and Marley Watkins headed narrowly wide from Kyle Vassell’s cross.
At half time Scott Fraser came on for the unfortunate Curtis Main to rebalance the midfield.
Matty Kennedy whipped in an awkward low cross that produced a goalmouth scramble before Cameron cleared. Koumetio made a terrific last gasp tackle to knock the ball away from Vassell who was about to shoot.
After those two early scares in the second half Killie were remarkably ineffective with all their possession. When they got into good positions in wide areas they couldn’t find crosses to trouble the Dee defence. Too many crosses, passes, and optimistic long range shots flew high and wide.
Midway through the half Dundee replaced the hard-working Simon Murray and Scott Tiffoney with Seb Palmer-Houlden and Seun Adewumi to try and provide fresh legs that would give Killie more problems.
Koumetio headed a corner back into the goalmouth, triggering a scramble that ended with the referee awarding Kilmarnock a free kick. Adewumi tried to nick a through ball past keeper Robbie McRorie and went down under the challenge, but there was no penalty for the Dee.
In the end it was the Kilmarnock substitutions who turned the game in their favour. There was a warning when Bruce Anderson hit the post when the ball broke to him following a corner.
It looked like a priceless let off for the Dee because they were 2-0 up two minutes later.
Palmer-Houlden nodded on a long ball and Seun ADEWUMI held off a defender to send a lob over McRorie and under the bar from 12 yards.
It was a delightful goal and that should have allowed the Dee to see the game out. Frustratingly, defensive errors returned to plague Dundee, who fell apart in defence in the final few minutes.
After 86 minutes Matty KENNEDY tried an angled shot that might have found Jon McCracken unsighted, but the keeper should have done better than allow the ball to squirm past him.
Two minutes later Killie substitute Gary Mackay-Steven sent over a good cross to the far post for Bruce ANDERSON to head home.
Four minutes into added time Kilmarnock snatched the winner. Cameron had the chance to clear following a corner and miskicked. Substitute Bobby Wales was in space to play a low pass across goal for KENNEDY to score easily.
Yet again there was much to enjoy in this game when the Dee were on the ball, and when they had the full team on the pitch. The defence held out well in the second half till those last few minutes. There can be endless debate about refereeing, but Dundee can’t do anything about that. What matters is ensuring that the team defends properly for the full match.
Dundee FC 3-5-2
McCracken
Portales, Clark Robertson, Koumetio
Ingram (Astley 88), Cameron, Sylla, Tiffoney (Adewumi 66), Larkeche
Murray (c) (Palmer-Houlden 66), Main (Fraser at half time)
Unused substitutes: Carson (gk), Mulligan, Fin Robertson, Braybrooke, Vetro.
Goals: Larkeche (24), Adewumi (81).
Booked: Sylla (foul on Vassell & foul on Kennedy), Murray (foul on Armstrong).
Sent off: Sylla (two bookings).
Kilmarnock 4-4-2
McRorie
Mayo, Deas, Ndaba
Armstrong, Lyons, Watson, Donnelly, Kennedy
Vassell (c), Watkins
Unused substitutes: O’Hara (gk), Burroughs, McKenzie, Mackay-Steven, Murray, Cameron, Anderson, Wales, Bainbridge.
Goals: Kennedy (86, 90+4), Anderson (88).
Booked: Mayo (foul on Murray).
Referee: Grant Irvine. Assistants: Ross MacLeod, Sean Carr. VAR: Alan Muir. Assistant VAR: Graeme Leslie.
Attendance: 5,316.
Report: James Christie.
