Wow! Have you ever enjoyed a Sunday afternoon that much? The Dark Blues took care of street rivals Dundee United with a marvellous, thrilling, gut churning, 4-2 victory at Tannadice. Jordan McGhee put the Dee ahead and Scott Tiffoney made it two midway through the first half. Glenn Middleton pulled a goal back for United but McGhee scored his second to gice Dundee a 3-1 half time lead. The Dee had the ball in United’s net five times in the first half, but two goals were ruled out for offside by VAR with the ball already on the centre spot for the restart. Kristian Trapanovski made it 3-2 early in the second half. In a frantically exciting last half hour both teams strained for further goals, but it was Simon Murray who sealed the Dee’s win from the penalty spot with the final kick of the match
The Dark Blues made three changes to the team that played Hearts. Mo Sylla, Lyall Cameron and Scott Tiffoney returned to the starting eleven, replacing Ryan Astley, Cesar Garza and Fin Robertson, who were all on the bench.
United made the brighter start and for the first five minutes the ball was almost always in the Dee half. The hosts didn’t create any significant danger, however.
When Dundee started to attack it was with far greater purpose and threat than United could manage. The Dee had two fast breaks. The first ended with a weak shot by Scott Tiffoney and the second finished with a cross by Josh Mulligan that struck a defender.
The Dark Blues’ pace and movement in attack opened up United again and again. In the 11th minute Simon Murray sent Mulligan clear into the penalty area. Jack Walton saved well but Lyall Cameron popped the loose ball into the net. The players were lined up for the restart when the VAR check came through to disallow the goal. Seun Adewumi had been marginally offside in the build up.
Luca Stephenson received lengthy treatment for a head knock before he was replaced by Craig Sibbald. The delay might have given United a chance to sort theselves out, but the Dark Blues kept tearing into them and ripping the defence to shreds.
Murray sent Ziyad Larkeche to the byline. The full back whipped in a lovely cross but Jordan McGHEE seemed slightly too far forward. He twisted acrobatically and somehow sent an unstoppable header across Walton and inside the far post. 17 minutes gone, but the fun was only just starting!
The Dark Blues almost scored a quick second. Mulligan set up Cameron only for Walton to pull off a great save to touch the low shot wide. From the resulting corner Adewumi showed skill and determination to keep the ball alive and Murray turned to shoot narrowly wide.
Dundee kept attacking United relentlessly, always finding space in the final third. In the 23rd minunte TIFFONEY took a pass from Larkeche, ran into space and blasted a rocket shot straight at Walton, who couldn’t cope with the power and allowed the ball to slip through his grasp into the net.
The Dundee fans were in ecstacy as they roared on the Dark Blues. United simply couldn’t cope with the waves of Dee attacks.
Frustratingly Dundee gave United a foothold in the match with an avoidable goal. Aaron Donnelly didn’t take his chance to clear on the edge of the penalty area. Sibbald pinched the ball and fed Glenn MIDDLETON who scored with a curling shot across Trevor Carson that neutral reporters would call superb.
Dundee didn’t let it rattle them and responded with a delightful third goal after 39 minutes. Will Ferry tried to run with the ball out of defence but Adewumi robbed him, ran back into the penalty area, and set up Jordan McGHEE to score from 16 yards with a magnificent shot that curled away from Walton and into the far corner.
Unbelievably Dundee had the ball in United’s net for a fifth time before the half time whistle. Tiffoney and Adewumi both had shots blocked on the line before a rebound cannoned off Ross Graham and into United’s goal. Yet again, sadly, VAR saved United. With the game about to restart, referee Nick Walsh signalled that VAR had called offside again. Apparently Murray was offside in the build up.
The jubilant Dee support had to make do with a 3-1 half time score. It could have been much more!
Dundee had to keep the game tight in the early stages of the second half to stop United getting a goal to lift their morale after that torrid first half. Unfortunately they couldn’t do it. Four minutes after the restart Sam Dalby bullied his way into space and set up Kristian TRAPANOVSKI to score with a deflected shot that flew past Carson.
United had their best spell of the match, pushing the Dee back and raising hopes amongst the home support. The ball was regularly flying into the Dark Blues’ penalty area, but the defence managed to cope with everything. Dundee always looked capable of hurting United on the break and the home defence was never comfortable when the Dark Blues attacked.
In the final half hour the game became stretched with play racing from end to end. Dundee twice went agonisingly close to tying up the match with two efforts by central defenders. At a corner Donnelly’s header was cleared off the line by Ferry. When United couldn’t clear a long throw Donnelly hooked a high ball into the goalmouth. Joe Shaughnessy headed down and the ball bounced, looping and dropping inches over the crossbar with Walton beaten and looking on in despair.
After 81 minutes United threw on three substitutes, pulling off both their central defenders. That gave them more bodies in attack, but they lost shape and composure. Dundee duly punished them. In the last of the five added minutes Simon Murray broke into the penalty area and forced his way past substitute Emmanuel Adegboyega. The defender panicked and pushed Murray over before he could shoot. It was a straightforward decision for the referee; penalty and red card.
With the United support streaming for the exits MURRAY thumped the penalty kick into the corner of the net and sprinted the length of the park to celebrate. For the Dundee support it was the perfect finalé to a wonderful derby; their local hero scoring to seal a fantastic victory.
Man of the match? There were eleven men of the match today. Fin Robertson replaced Seun Adewumi for injury time, but the other 10 players played the full 97 minutes. Take a bow guys! You did us proud.
Derbies in Dundee have a reputation for giving the TV viewers top quality entertainment. But for the Dark Blue supporters who were at Tannadice this was the very best afternoon they could have enjoyed. The smiles and laughter in Tannadice Street as the Dees walked back up the street was a joy to behold. Terrific stuff!
Dundee United 4-4-2
Walton
Strain, Gallagher (Fotheringham 81), Graham (Adebogyega 81), Ferry
Middleton, Sevelj (van der Sande 90), Stephenson (Sibbald 16), Trapanovski (Paton 81)
Campbell (Nlult 63), Dalby
Unused subs: Richards (gk), Babunski, Docherty.
Goals: Midddleton (31), Trapanovski 49).
Booked: Ferry (foul on Adewumi), Adegboyega (foul on Murray).
Sent off: Adegboyega (denying goalscoring opportunity).
Dundee FC 4-3-3
Carson
McGhee, Shaughnessy (c), Donnelly, Larkeche
Mulligan, Sylla, Cameron
Tiffoney, Murray, Adewumi
Unused subs: McCracken (gk), Sharp (gk), Ingram, Astley, Samuels, Garza, Reilly, Fin Robertson, Lopez.
Goals: McGhee (17, 39), Tiffoney (23).
Booked: Shaughnessy (foul on Middleton), Murray (for the greatest celebration of his lifetime).
Referee: Nick Walsh. Assistants: Daniel McFarlane, Calum Spence. VAR: Andrew Dallas. Assistant VAR: Gary Hilland.
Attendance: 13,000 (on the nose, not rounded).
Report: James Christie.
