Dundee threw away the points in a disappointing 2-1 defeat at home to Motherwell this afternoon. Antonio Portales gave the Dark Blues a deserved lead after half an hour and seemed to have added a second on the stroke of half time. VAR rescued Motherwell and they took advantage in the second half. Tom Sparrow equalised on the hour. Dundee pushed hard for a winner, and should have had the edge when John Koutroumbis was red carded. However, the Dee were caught on the break in added time and Tawanda Maswanhise’s header won the game.
The only change to the Dark Blues’ starting eleven was the return of Seun Adewumi in attack with Seb Palmer-Houlden switching to the bench.
The opening exchanges gave neither keeper anything to worry about. Dundee had a couple of promising moves which amounted to nothing. After 13 minutes the first moment of excitement should have brought the opening goal.
Simon Murray showed great strength and skill to turn clear of Dan Casey and send Seun Adewumi clear. The young Austrian took a heavy touch and keeper Aston Oxborough saved, and then parried Ziyad Larkeche’s follow up. Oxborough had to save from Joe Shaughnessy a few minutes later when the Dee skipper for a free header at a corner.
Motherwell’s best effort of the first half was a fierce shot by Callum Slattery from 18 yards which flew a couple of feet over the bar.
The Dark Blues took a deserved lead after 31 minutes from a long throw by Ryan Astley on the right. The ball broke to Antonio PORTALES who smashed home a superb finish into the top corner from 16 yards.
As the clocked ticked over into stoppage time Portales repeated the trick, firing into the same corner following another throw by Astley. With the ball already on the centre spot a VAR review decided that the goal should be disallowed for offside. Clark Robertson had moved back from an offside position to challenge as the ball broke to Portales.
There was still time before the half time whistle for John Koutroumbis to shoot over the bar, but he was offside according the assistant referee.
Motherwell sent on striker Tawanda Maswanhise for midfielder Harry Paton at half time and the change allowed them to attack with much greater conviction in the second half.
The Dark Blues had the first goal attempt of the second half when Lyall Cameron ran onto Simon Murray’s flick but he couldn’t get enough in his shot to beat Oxborough.
After 59 minutes, with the game finely poised, Motherwell equalised. A neat move through the middle ended with Lennon Miller pushing a pass through for Tom SPARROW in space in front of goal and the midfielder shot high into the roof of the net. Questions could be asked about the space Sparrow had and whether he had been tracked.
Dundee never quite got their game together again after being pegged back. They kept working and pushing, creating half chances but no more. Josh Mulligan blasted a shot from 18 yards too high after lovely combination play by Larkeche and Adewumi on the left.
The game became increasingly edgy and scrappy with neither side able to take control and play composed football. After 79 minutes John Koutroumbis put in a fierce challenge on Ziyad Larkeche. The referee played advantage initially but showed the yellow card before changing it to a red card after a VAR review.
Murray struck a free kick from 19 yards against the Well defensive war. With Dundee pushing forward they were caught on the break and Trevor Carson had to save low at his left hand post from substitute Ewan Wilson. From the resulting corner Dundee couldn’t clear and Dan Casey header against the crossbar.
Charlie Reilly came on for Ryan Astley as Dundee chased a winner, but they were caught again on the break in the first minute of added time. Dominic Thompson ran down the right and crossed to the far post where Tawanda MASWANHISE rose to score with a superb header. It was a real sucker punch for the Dark Blues.
Lyall Cameron had a fleeting chance from a pass by Mulligan but pulled his shot across goal. Motherwell hung on and could have taken a third goal from another break as Dundee threw everyone forward. Carson saved from Maswanhise and Casey somehow missed the open goal.
Losing today leaves the bottom three as they were before kick-off. However, it was a real opportunity missed. Dundee should never have lost this game. Poor defending sunk the Dark Blues yet again. They have often played better this season, but they had enough promising openings to bring more than a single goal, and they should have been able to hold on to at least a single point, and certainly against 10 men.
The match turned on the decision to overturn Dundee’s goal immediately before half time. Instead of going in at half time on a high with a two goal lead the mood was subdued. Football isn’t the same when any celebration feels premature before play restarts.
Dundee FC 4-3-3
Carson
Astley (Reilly 84), Shaughnessy (c), Clark Robertson, Larkeche
Mulligan, Portales (Fraser 72), Cameron
Tiffoney, Murray, Adewumi (Palmer-Houlden 65)
Unused subs: McCracken (gk), Samuels, Fin Robertson, Koumetio, Sylla, Donnelly.
Goal: Portales (31).
Booked: Shaughnessy (foul on Paton).
Motherwell 4-4-1-1
Oxborough
Koutroumbis, O’Donnell (c), Casey, Thompson
Sparrow (Seddon 76), Halliday, Miller, Paton (Maswanhise at half time)
Slattery (Wilson 80)
Watt (Armstrong 90+4)
Unused subs: Balcombe (gk), Zdravkovski, Ebiye, Andrews, Dickson.
Goals: Sparrow (59), Maswanhise (90+1).
Booked: Miller (foul on Mulligan).
Sent off: Koutroumbis (foul on Larkeche).
Referee: Kevin Clancy. Assistants: David Roome, Scott Anderson. VAR: Calum Scott. Assistant VAR: Daniel McFarlane.
Attendance: 5,692.
Report: James Christie.
