Dundee FC - Summary of the Season

It was supposed to be "easy"; some even quoted it as a "walk in the park". Yes, this was the view of a section of the Dark Blue support before Dundee's first season in the 1st Division since 1998. These quotes are now laughed-off by supporters of other teams in Scotland's top lower division, but the sensible member of the Dundee support laughed them off before anyone else did. Non-delusional Dees knew that we were about to embark on a tough season and we would be fortunate to come up straight away.

However, the opinions of some Dundee fans were thought to be justified when, on the opening day of the season, Dundee defeated St. Mirren 3-2. St. Mirren were deemed to be one of Dundee's main promotion rivals for the season ahead, how different that was to turn out.

One problem many Dees thought would be eradicated was the away win duck which dogged Dundee during the relegation season from the SPL. Only one win was achieved away from Dens in 2004/05, that win however came at Tannadice. The Dee’s first away game in the 1st Division was at Broadwood against Clyde.

Clyde were predicted as being relegation candidates due to their squad being made up of summer trialists, Dundee found that these guys were battlers and the away win wait was to continue as the game finished 1-1.

The season looked to be going fine as Dundee sat top of the table after the first three games, but a disastrous result down at Stranraer in the CIS Cup 3rd Round resulted in boss Jim Duffy losing his job. The side lost 3-1 on a bleak Tuesday night and many were quoting that Duffy had lost the dressing room.

Assistant Manager Gerry Britton and Youth Coach Gordon Wallace took temporary charge of proceedings, but neither was to be considered for the permanent post at Dens. Alan Kernaghan was later announced as the new Dundee manager with Billy Kirkwood his Assistant.

Many were expecting the side to now go on the title hunt again but these hopes were dashed when Kernaghan lost his first game in charge. Airdrie Utd defeated the Dees 2-0 at Dens, which incidentally started a run of 3 out of 3 wins for The Diamonds over Dundee.

A string of results which didn’t meet the standard expected by the Dens Park faithful then started raising questions of Kernaghan’s appointment and his managerial ability.

It was October – almost two months after his appointment – which provided Kernaghan with his first win as Dundee boss. Dundee won 3-1 at Glebe Park against relegation candidates Brechin. This game also provided The Dees with their first win outside Dundee since May 2004 which was a 2-1 win against Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

All of the goals came in the first half, Simon Lynch (2) and Steven Craig scoring for Dundee.

But, the Dark Blues’ season wasn’t to get much better and the side faltered with more draws. The game which made most Dundee supporters’ minds-up that the title-hunt was over was the 3-3 draw with Clyde at Dens on Wednesday, 26th October. Dundee went 1-0 up through Simon Lynch only to be pegged back at 1-1 9 minutes short of half-time. However, Tam McManus put Dundee 2-1 up just before the whistle which would close the first-half proceedings.

Dundee came out strong and McManus put the Dee 3-1 up, seemingly out of sight. Victory disappeared though as the Dens defence collapsed in the final 10 minutes.

Kernaghan’s position was then in serious question as Dundee lost 4-0 to Airdrie Utd the following Saturday.
The promotion push was then seen as well and truly over but the Dundee support had something to smile about a few weeks later as Dundee beat table-topping St. Mirren 4-0 at Dens. The observations now being made were that of the young players coming through at Dens. For a while before this game, it appeared that Kernaghan had conceded the title for this season at least and he was starting to bring young players through. The most notable successes from the U19 side were Paul Dixon and Kevin McDonald, with many more beginning to make their mark.

Since that result, the defeat on Boxing Day to Airdrie Utd at Dens apart, Dundee have achieved a run of 4 league games unbeaten and in those games the side haven’t conceded a single goal. A 2-0 success against Stranraer at Dens in the Scottish Cup 3rd Round has also occurred since the 4-0 win. The young players are now being given recognition and some are attracting attention from other clubs, the biggest being Kevin McDonald.

Craig O’Reilly has also made his mark with 4 goals in 6 games which won him the Bell’s Young Player of the Month award for December.

The season was beginning to pick up before more bad results followed, too many draws continued to be Dundee's problem as the team slipped to 6th in the First Division.

However, a run in the Scottish Cup was to lift spirits slightly at Dens. Stranraer were Dundee's opponents in the 3rd round, a team the Dark Blues had failed to beat in 3 attempts prior to this match. However, Dundee ran out 2-0 winners on a day when we saw what Simon Lynch could really do, a usually static striker scored a sublime goal to win the game for Dundee, picking the ball up from 20 yards out and looping the ball over Barry John Corr in the away side's goal.

That win set-up an away tie against Airdrie Utd and a lot of Dees wrote off the chances of the side progressing even before the Stranraer game. Airdrie Utd had caused Dundee a lot of problems in the two meetings between the sides in the league, trouble that saw the west coast outfit take 6 points from Dundee, scoring 6 and conceding 0.

On this occasion, the game ended in a draw with Bryan Deasley scoring for Dundee. The replay was to end in success, the Dees winning 2-0 on this occasion.

League form wasn't so good, by this points Dundee hadn't won a game since beating Stranraer at Dens on the 28th January. But, this form was over-looked by a Cup run which was only one more success away from a trip to Hampden.

That success came over Hamilton Accies, but it took a replay and extra-time to dispose of Accies. The first game was drawn 0-0 at New Douglas Park, a un-inspiring performance from both sides let down a record crowd at Hamilton's home stadium.

The replay, however, was the complete opposite. Dundee stormed into a 2-0 lead in the second half, only to be pegged back in the final 20 minutes. The game ended 2-2, extra-time to be played. It didn't take long for the Dees to re-gain the lead though, Steven Craig rocketed home a shot which sent Dundee into the Semi-Final.

Just 2 days later, Dundee were to suffer their biggest defeat of the season. With so many players feeling the effects of a gruelling 120 minutes against Hamilton, Alan Kernaghan rested almost every player involved in the Cup heroics, an entirely different starting 11 took the field at the Shyberry Excelsior. Many youngsters took part in a game which ended 7-0 in favour of the home side.

The next notable event of a rollercoaster season was the Cup Semi-Final at Hampden, Gretna were to provide the challenge. Just over 8,000 Dees travelled through to Glasgow for what was hopefully going to be a wonderful day in the sunshine, but it turned out to be disastrous. Dundee started fairly brightly, Bryan Deasley looked lively in what at times looked like a left-wing role for the small striker. Many questions were raised before kick-off however to the exclusion of youngster Kevin McDonald from the Dundee midfield. One of the star performers of the season was expected to start, this decision was to lead to defeat and the final straw for many Dundee supporters on their opinion of Kernaghan.

The first goal was lost just before half-time, Tam McManus being the architect. With the game looking like going in at 0-0, McManus launched the ball, unfortunately in the wrong direction. Kenny Deuchar latched onto the ball and easily beat Stuart McCluskey for pace. He then rounded Kelvin Jack and slotted the ball home from a fairly tight angle.

McDonald was brought on during the second half but just as his influence was beginning to show and Dundee were creating chances, Gretna finished the game with a very debatable penalty.

Dundee's misery was sealed when Barry Smith struck the ball into his own net, a day which promised so much will be gladly forgotten by the 8,000 who travelled through.

The season was then looked-upon as over, with promotion gone and relegation not a huge worry, every game played in the league had a friendly feel about it. However, a long run without a win continued, still the January 28th success over Stranraer was Dundee's last First Division success.

Alan Kernaghan was to suffer the fate of being sacked, an embarrassing home defeat to already-relegated Brechin saw the Irishman given his marching orders. It was received with some relief, the side had gone nowhere but backwards since his appointment, the only positive coming from his reign as boss was the introduction of promising youngsters. You feel, however, that these players would have been used whoever the manager would have been, lack of money at Dens dictated this. Assistant Manager Billy Kirkwood was also sacked as Barry Smith and Bobby Mann took over until the end of the season.

The side finally won a league game and it was to be the last of the season, a 3-1 away win against Queen Of the South ended a dismal season on a slight high. This was to also be club captain Barry Smith's final game for Dundee, the veteran was to move to Iceland. It was a fitting way to end his Dundee career, a career which has seen him at the club since 1995.

To summarise, many Dundee supporters will feel that a vast improvement is needed next season. In a campaign which promised so much, the Dees failed to shine but in only a few games. If form like the 4-0 win against St. Mirren, the 2-0 Scottish Cup win against Airdrie and the 3-1 away win against Queen Of the South had been applied all season, or at least for the majority of it, we would probably be an SPL club again.

But now, with managerial change and a new look behind the scenes, Dundee will hopefully provide a tougher challenge next season. Promotion will be very difficult, but an improvement on what was a terrible first time back to First Division football will be greatly received.