Things couldn’t really have gone much better for Gary Bowyer in his first three matches in charge of Dundee.
For some, we are still in pre-season mode.
But, officially, the record books show he boasts a 100% record with three wins from his first three games.
Having scrolled through the history books, that’s not been done in a long, long time.
Not this century. Not since before the war.
Andy Cunningham was the last Dundee boss to win his first three matches in charge since 1937.
1937!
Doubters will point at the opposition and the stage of the season.
But they are competitive games, two against teams in Dundee’s division this season.
Championship warm-up
And all three have been chock full of plus points.
Hamilton weren’t great and neither were Stranraer, though the League Two side gave it a good shot.
But the Dark Blues were good and deserved their 3-0 scorelines.
Last night against Queen’s Park was a completely different sort of test.
Owen Coyle’s side are ambitious, there’s no denying that.
Though they’ll only be worrying about survival this season after promotion from League One, they’ll have designs of making in-roads in the Championship before long.
Though the weather was unusual for a classic Championship match, the game itself wasn’t.
Good morning 🙌 🙌 🙌
Subscribers can watch a full match replay, highlights and post match interviews with Cammy Kerr and Gary Bowyer on DeeTV now #thedee
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— Dundee Football Club (@DundeeFC) July 20, 2022
Having watched far too many second-tier matches to count over the years, I’ve seen that sort of game plenty – one side smashes through the first half and builds up a lead.
Then something goes wrong second half and it’s backs-to-the-wall defending for the team in front.
The amount of times I’ve seen a side go 3-0 up early on only to draw is remarkable.
Seeing it out
Though it seems counter-intuitive for a manager to be pleased to see his side put under pressure, I can see why Bowyer was happy to see a different sort of game for his team to encounter.
Because Dundee were made to defend a lead – something they’ve not had to do yet under their new boss.
It wasn’t exactly wave after wave of attack from Queen’s Park but there were a couple of hairy moments for the Dundee defence to deal with.
Harry Sharp made a good save from Simon Murray, Tyler French made a super block with his head and a loose ball in the six-yard box could have gone anywhere late on.
Like I said before, I’ve seen many a Championship lead disappear in the second half.
With Dundee involved too often as well.
Momentum
Dundee showed they might be made of sterner stuff this season by seeing the game out, though.
They certainly could have made life much easier for themselves had they put away some of the good chances they created in the second half.
But they were put under pressure and came away with the points.
That bodes well for the season to come.
It is still very early days, the league is still over a week away, but Dundee have gone about the League Cup group stage perfectly.
The key now is to use momentum that’s building to hit the ground running when the Championship kicks off.
And I wouldn’t put it past Bowyer to add his own name to the record books with more victories.
Cunningham won his first six, by the way…
Why Dundee boss Gary Bowyer was pleased to see his side concede against Queen’s Park
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