Dundee’s unbeaten start to the season came to an end with a 2-0 defeat away to Ross County. The Dark Blues were short of their best and defensive lapses gave the Staggies an early lead from Akil Wright and then a penalty scored by Jordan White at the end of the first half. Dundee improved after half time, but lacked the penetration to find their past a well organised home defence and County held out for a deserved win.
The Dark Blues made three changes from the team that drew with St Mirren. Ethan Ingram, Josh Mulligan and Seb Palmer-Houlden started in the place of Jordan McGhee, Sam Braybrooke and Curtis Main, who were all on the bench.
Dundee got off to a slow start and took far too long to pick up any rhythm. By the time the Dark Blues were playing to an acceptable standard they were a goal behind and County’s tails were up after being gifted an easy opening goal.
County came close to taking the lead after four minutes when Dundee were caught out by a fast break after a Dee free kick was sent into the Staggies’ penalty area. The break caught Dundee players out of position and they hadn’t fully recovered when Jordan White bundled an effort wide from James Brown’s cross.
Two minutes later the opening goal arrived and it was poorly defended by the Dee. Chilver’s corner to the far post was well delivered, but Akil WRIGHT was untroubled by the defence as he headed home from close range. Losing simple goals like that from corner is disappointing to put it mildly.
The Dark Blues continued to look shaky at the back and were not creating enough from midfield. Ample possession brought no end result. Occasionally Dundee worked their way into promising positions but the final pass or cross was never good enough to produce a chance.
Dundee couldn’t get an effective passing game going in midfield and too many moves fizzled out with optimistic long balls.
Just after the half hour mark Dundee did fleetingly get their game together. Billy Kometio fed a lovely fast low pass through the middle for Simon Murray to turn in the penalty area and shoot into the corner of the net. Sadly he was offside, and that was the one and only impressive moment of the first half.
Dundee were dominating possession without being dangerous, but at least most of the play was well clear of the Dee’s goal. That changed in the last few minutes of the half when County set up camp in Dundee’s half.
Connor Randall was left alone in space to shoot from 20 yards but he pulled his shot wide. County stayed on the attack and seemed to have won a corner but play was held up for a VAR review and after consulting the monitor the referee decided that Ethan Ingram had pulled Jordan White down off the ball. In the fourth minute of added time WHITE made it 2-0 when he sent Jon McCracken the wrong way from the penalty spot.
Dundee made two changes at half time, sending on Jordan McGhee and Seun Adewumi for Ethan Ingram and Seb Palmer-Houlden.
The Dark Blues improved after half time but County’s second goal was crucial. Dundee were misfiring and never looked like they would save the game. They kept pushing the Staggies back, forcing them into deep defence.
The Dark Blues first shot on target was a 25 yard free kick by Ziyad Larkeche which went straight to home keeper Ross Laidlaw.
Midway through the second half Dundee made three further substitutions. Fin Robertson, Curtis Main, and Sammy Braybrooke replaced Ziyad Larkeche, Scott Tiffoney and Josh Mulligan.
Braybrooke was quickly involved and sent a lovely pass down the left for Adewumi whose low cross was just too far in front of Murray. That fast passing move was one of only a few times in the match that Dundee looked liked their true selves, attacking with pace and purpose.
Apart from that Dundee couldn’t force their way through a hard working and disciplined home defence which continually stopped Dundee’s attacks from creating any danger in the penalty area.
With less of the ball and only the occasional attack County looked as likely to score in the second half as Dundee. The Dark Blues’ attacking left them vulnerable to breaks, but County made a mess of a few opportunities to break clear even when they outnumbered the Dee defenders.
White had a good effort from 20 yards that McCracken had to push out for a corner, and Connor Randall broke clear on the left and forced a save from McCracken with a fierce angled shot.
Despite all the attacking and all the pressure there were very few goal attempts and no narrow escapes for the home goal as the game wound down to a frustrating conclusion for the travelling support.
This game was settled by the defences. Dundee gifted the Staggies two poor and avoidable goals in the first half, and the County defence earned all three points by keeping the Dark Blues at bay in the second half. County’s defensive display deserves even more credit considering they had to reorganise after only 15 minutes when George Harmon was injured and Ryan Leak came on to play in central defence with Eli Campbell moving to left back.
Dundee weren’t bad in the second half, serving up some good stuff in midfield where Mo Sylla played a particularly important part setting up attacks and stopping County breaking. However, after giving the Staggies a two goal lead Dundee had to improve significantly in the second half. Being not bad was nowhere near good enough after that first half and the improvement never extended to the invention or quick passing that might have opened up County.
Ross County were not particularly good today in the sense of playing fine football, but they did the basics well, and much better than Dundee who were far too error prone, and lacking the spark in attack that has brought so many goals this season. There were very few positives today, but Seun Adewumi looked skillful and dangerous when he came on to play on the left in the second half, and Sammy Braybrooke also impressed in the last half hour. The regulars, however, can do much better than this.
Undefeated runs always come to an end, and it is always disappointing when it happens like it did today, with a performance that falls well short of what we’ve become used to.
Ross County 5-3-2
Laidlaw
Brown, Wright, Lopata, Campbell, Harmon (Leak 15)
Chilvers (Denholm 71), Randall (c), Nisbet (Loturi 78)
White, Hale (Grieves 78)
Unused subs: Hamilton (gk), Allardice, Efete, Samuel, Brophy.
Goals: Wright (6), White pen (45+4).
Booked: Lopata (foul on Murray), White (foul on McCracken).
Dundee FC 4-3-3
McCracken
Ingram (McGhee at half time), Portales, Koumetio, Larkeche (Fin Robertson 64)
Mulligan (Braybrooke 64), Sylla, Cameron
Palmer-Houlden (Adewumi at half time), Murray(c), Tiffoney (Main 64)
Unused subs: Carson (gk), Astley, Graham, Vetro.
Booked: Larkeche (simulation).
Referee: Grant Irvine. Assistants: Andy Mile, Gordon McCabe. Fourth official: Alastair Grieve.
Attendance: 4,068 (789 Dees).
Report: James Christie.
