Dundee and St Mirren served up an entertaining 2-2 draw at the Scot Foam Stadium this afternoon. The Dark Blues fought back twice after falling behind. Toyosi Olusanya put the Buddies ahead midway through the first half only for Curtis Main to grab a quick equaliser. These first two goals were defensively poor, but St Mirren’s second goal before half time was an excellent strike from distance by Mikael Mandron. Ziyad Larkeche’s equaliser early in the second half was equally good, coming at the end of a fast and smooth attack. Dundee dominated the rest of the match but couldn’t find a winner and go into the international break still undefeated this season.
The Dark Blues made two changes to the team that drew at Hibs last week. Sammy Braybrooke made his Dark Blue debut replacing the much loved Luke McCowan. Curtis Main also came in for Seb Palmer-Houlden, who was on the bench.
The game was open and competitive from the start. Inside two minutes Dundee worked a good passing move on the right which gave Simon Murray the chance to shoot but his deflection was half blocked, deflecting the shot into the gloves of keeper Ellery Balcombe. St Mirren immediately responded with two dangerous attacks. Rooney’s dangerous low cross into the goalmouth was cleared by Antonio Portales. Mikael Mandron ran onto a flick but Jon McCracken blocked before he could get the ball fully under control.
Play raced from end to end with both teams more comfortable in attack than defence. Curtis Main was inches away from putting the Dark Blues ahead when he diverted Mo Sylla’s 18 yard shot past the post.
Goals were sure to come in such an open game and midway through the first half the Dee and Buddies exchanged a dreadful pair of goals. St Mirren took the lead after 25 minutes when Antonio Portales misjudged a long ball, allowing Toyosi OLUSANYA to nick the ball away from him, run on and send a low angled shot past McCracken. Only a minute previously Portales had put in an excellent piece of penalty box defending against the same player, but it’s mistakes that defenders are always remembered for.
Five minutes later it was the turn of St Mirren’s central defender Richard Taylor to be embarrassed. He failed to deal with McCracken’s goal kick and Curtis MAIN nipped in behind him to score his first league goal for the Dee with a cute shot over Balcombe.
The Dark Blues were on level terms for only six minutes. At least St Mirren’s second goal was a superb effort, although Dundee could have been more careful and alert in the build up. The ball broke to Mikael MANDRON 30 yards from goal and he nailed a magnificent rising half-volley into the corner of McCracken’s goal.
The final chance of the half came from more poor defending when St Mirren again made a mess of a long goal kick, but this time Main shot wide on the turn.
Dundee needed to improve, particularly in defence, if they were to take anything from the game. Happily they did so. The defence was disrupted shortly after the restart when Billy Koumetio limped off after lengthy treatment. Ethan Ingram replaced him, taking up the right back slot while Jordan McGhee moved to centre back. The defensive improvement was all round and certainly wasn’t down to the replacement of Koumetio who was forcefully effective in the first half.
When play restarted Dundee almost equalised within a minute. Sammy Braybrooke’s lovely free kick delivery from the right wing found Portales, whose header was only just outside the near post.
The Dark Blues were now attacking with their familiar confident intensity and made it 2-2 after 54 minutes. Scott Tiffoney pulled the defence out of position with a driving run through the middle. Lyall Cameron took over and played a beautiful pass into the path of Ziyad LARKECHE, racing in from the left and the French full back took a touch before scoring his first goal for the Dee with a low shot from eight yards.
Dundee remained on top, playing good football and always dangerous coming forward. Just after the hour Josh Mulligan came on for Sammy Braybrooke who had impressed with his touch and passing.
Mulligan provided extra power and drive against a St Mirren team who were being forced on to the back foot. The young midfielder surged into space through the middle and played Murray clear, but Balcombe saved well and Gogic headed the loose ball out for a corner.
Main had a chance from a fine cross by Tiffoney but couldn’t get enough power or direction in his header to beat Balcombe.
In the second half Larkeche was impressing in both defence and attack and he split the St Mirren defence with a superb diagonal pass but Murray sent his angled shot over the bar. Nice play on the right by Mulligan and Cameron ended with a low 18 yarder by Cameron that Balcombe saved.
Dundee had much the better of the second half, but couldn’t find a spark in the seven minutes of added time during which St Mirren did most of the attacking. The Buddies put the Dee under pressure on occasion but without creating any worthwhile chances.
A draw was perhaps fair over the full match, although Dundee had the creativity and the chances to take three points. St Mirren could hardly have complained if that had happened. However, Dundee weren’t on their defensive game in the first half and didn’t take their chances in the second half, so the scope for improvement is clear.
Looking at the bigger picture the Dark Blues are providing outstanding entertainment with plenty of goals and a playing style that is consistently both pretty and highly effective. Despite the departure of the talismanic Luke McCowan the midfield continued to deliver attractive and dangerous attacking football.
The Dee now head into the international break after an excellent unbeaten start to the season. This was a tough game today against difficult opponents, but Dundee showed that with the transfer window shut they have a promising squad in place and can look forward to a return to league action in two weeks.
Dundee FC 4-3-3
McCracken
McGhee, Portales, Koumetio (Ingram 50), Larkeche
Cameron, Sylla, Braybrooke (Mulligan 62)
Murray(c), Main, Tiffoney (Palmer-Houlden 90)
Unused substitutes: Carson (gk), Sharp (gk), Astley, Robertson, Graham, Vetro.
Goals: Main (30), Larkeche (54).
Booked: Portales (foul on Olusanya), Ingram (confrontation with Brown).
St Mirren 3-5-2
Balcombe
Fraser, Gogic, Taylor (Iacovitti at half time)
Rooney (Bwomono 82), Phillips (Idowu 59), O’Hara, Boyd-Munce (Adeniran 74), Tanser (Brown 74)
Olusanya (Ayunga 81), Mandron
Unused substitutes: Urminsky (gk), Smyth, Kenny.
Goals: Olusanya (25), Mandron (36).
Booked: Rooney (foul on McCracken), Adeniran (foul on Tiffoney), Brown (confrontation with Ingram), O’Hara (foul on Mulligan).
Referee: Lloyd Wilson. Assistants: David McGeachie, Gordon Crawford. Fourth official: Matthew MacDermid.VAR: Greg Aitken. Assistant VAR: Graeme Leslie.
Attendance: 5,779 (572 away).
Report: James Christie.
