Dundee went down to a 3-1 defeat against Ross County in Dingwall this afternoon. Simon Murray’s superb opener gave the Dee an early lead, but from then on County were in control. It didn’t take Kieran Phillips long to equalise. Dundee hung on until half time, but the Staggies scored twice through Akil Wright and Noah Chilvers in the opening five minutes of the second half. There was no way back for the Dark Blues after that and County saw the game out comfortably.
There were two changes to the Dark Blues’ starting eleven. Ryan Astley and Fin Robertson came in for Aaron Donnelly and Mo Sylla, who were both on the bench.
The first half was entirely forgettable for the Dee with one spectacular exception. Ross County had started with a couple of attacks which ended with routine saves by Jon McCracken.
Dundee first attack ended with a throw in wide on the left in the fourth minute. Instead of hurling a long throw into the penalty area the throw was taken short. Ziyad Larkeche passed to Simon MURRAY, who turned and sent a marvellous curling shot from the corner of the penalty area over keeper Jordan Amissah and into the far top corner.
Disappointingly that was the Dark Blues last noteworthy moment of the game. From then until half time County dominated with only an occasional, ineffective Dee attack.
The Staggies had little trouble getting past the Dee midfield, putting the defence under pressure and sending in dangerous crosses. Jon McCracken had to turn Connor Randall’s low shot from 22 yards out for a corner, one of six that County won in less than 10 minutes following the goal.
The relentless pressure was likely to bring a goal sooner rather than later and it came after 18 minutes. George Harmon took a short pass from a Staggies free kick just inside the Dee half. He sent a long pass beyond the far post when Kacper Lopata’s header back across goal allowed Kieran PHILLIPS to bundle the ball over the line.
Shortly afterwards Dundee lost Antonio Portales who limped off and was replaced by Aaron Donnnelly.
The rest of the first half was a non event as far as Dundee were concerned. The defence more or less coped with County’s attacks, but the midfield was ineffective, verging on the invisible. Dundee simply couldn’t hold onto the ball. When the defence stopped an attack there was usually a long ball, which gave Murray and Seb Palmer-Houlden nothing to work with, and County were straight back on the attack.
At half time Mo Sylla came on for Clark Robertson, who had a problem with his hamstring. Jordan McGhee moved back from midfield into the defence.
The game was settled in a horrific opening five minutes to the second half during which the Dee defence fell apart.
In the opening minute of the half Noah Chilvers was allowed too much space to take a shot from 20 yards. It was going narrowly wide, but McCracken chose to save at full stretch. He set up Ronan Hale but he was guilty of a dreadful miss, sending his shot against the post instead of finding the empty net.
Dundee cleared for a corner, and the defence totally lost concentration when Harmon swung the ball over. Akil WRIGHT was unmarked to volley home the second goal from six yards.
Two minutes Dundee’s defence was badly caught out again. A Dee attack broke down and the Dark Blues were wide open to the counter-attack. Phillips ran into space down the right and CHILVERS ran through the middle unmarked to score from the pass across goal.
Dundee had far more of the ball after the two goals, but the Staggies were always in control of the game. The Dark Blues attacked more than in the first half but they seldom had County’s defence in trouble.
The Dee formation switched to four at the back with McGhee pushing back into midfield. Seun Adewumi came on for Seb Palmer-Houlden who took a knock. Neither change made any significant difference to the game or unsettled County.
Jordan McGhee passed up two reasonable chances with headers, but apart from that Dundee’s attacking was unconvincing. The Staggies always looked more likely to add further goals.
The game fizzled out with Dundee never looking like digging their way back into contention and Ross County fully deserved their win. Dundee have played well in parts of many games they have lost this season. There wasn’t even that scant consolation today.
Ross County 3-5-2
Amissah
Tomkinson, Lopata, Campbell
Wright, Kenneh, Randall, Chilvers (Nisbet 82), Harmon (Grieves 82)
Phillips (White 75), Hale (Robesten 66)
Unused subs: Laidlaw (gk), Brown, Allardyce, Smith, MacLeod.
Goals: Phillips (18), Wright (47), Chilvers (49).
Booked: none.
Dundee FC 3-4-1-2
McCracken
Astley, Portales (Donnelly 24), Clark Robertson (Sylla at half time)
Mulligan, Fin Robertson, McGhee, Larkeche
Cameron (Tiffoney 81)
Murray (c), Palmer-Houlden (Adewumi 59)
Unused subs: Carson (gk), Ingram, Shaughnessy, Samuels, Garza.
Goal: Murray (4).
Booked: Larkeche (foul on Wright), Sylla (foul on Chilvers).
Referee: Matthew MacDermid. Assistants: Chris Rae, Scott Anderson. VAR: Greg Aitken. Assistant VAR: Dougie Potter.
Attendance: 4,075 (691 Dees).
Report: James Christie.
