Dundee are playing catch-up in the Premiership after a second Aberdeen match this season fell foul of the weather.
By the time the Dark Blues kick off against Celtic on Boxing Day, they’ll be three games behind five teams in the division.
However, despite playing fewer fixtures than almost everyone else they find themselves well-perched in seventh spot.
It’s been a successful return to the top-flight for the Dee. So far.
But they were keen to keep their momentum going with Aberdeen in town on Saturday.
Timing could have been handy with the Dons playing seven matches in less than a month heading into the contest.
But we’ll never know if that timing did indeed give Dundee an advantage.
Fury
The Dark Blues were furious at the decision taken by referee David Munro to call the game off and the lack of communication thereafter.
It’s understood the official told the BBC the game was off before informing the teams. Tony Docherty also revealed there were no discussions with the managers of either side.
The fury is understandable and it was clear from fans trudging away from the stadium.
No indications were given that the weather would be an issue. It appeared issues with the pitch earlier in the season had been remedied while the amount of rain wasn’t anything like we’d seen for previous call-offs.
Indeed, the start of the season saw the match with Motherwell actually stopped before a corner kick was taken so that Brian Robertson, the groundsman, could sweep water off the pitch as it continued to teem down.
This wasn’t anything like that.
Referee
The goalmouth looked rough, though. And the referee’s assessment left him in no doubt player safety had to be taken into consideration.
Despite Dundee’s protestations, it is the referee who is responsible for the safety of the players and as such his decision has to be accepted.
The bigger issue was the lateness of the decision and the lack of communication thereafter. News didn’t officially emerge from the two clubs until 2.07pm.
Fans had travelled down from Aberdeen, no doubt some through pretty rough weather conditions.
Cove Rangers’ match against Edinburgh City was delayed to clear snow off the pitch. With rain forecast to stop – and would go on to do so – before 3pm, the question can rightly be asked why the same decision wasn’t made at Dens Park.
Particularly with such a big crowd expected.
Going forward, what does it mean for the Dark Blues?
A loss of a six-figure sum for a start.
Possible fixture congestion later on in the season, too.
There’s obviously Celtic up next followed by two absolutely key matches at Kilmarnock and home to St Johnstone before the winter break. Focus needs to switch very, very quickly.
But there’s still a general grumpiness around Dens Park after Saturday.
Owen Beck
That could well be added to after seeing Liverpool left-back Kostas Tsimikas break his collarbone in the evening Premier League match against Arsenal.
First-choice left-back Andy Robertson is still out with a broken collarbone of his own and isn’t expected back for a few weeks.
So what happens with Owen Beck?
He’s been a star turn for the Dark Blues this season, lighting up the Premiership in his loan spell on Tayside.
The expectation was that he would see out his season-long loan at Dens Park and it’s understood Liverpool felt that way, too.
How that is affected by yet another left-back picking up a lengthy injury, however, remains to be seen.
Will they decide to trigger their recall option to cover a problem position?
All worried Dundee eyes will be on Jurgen Klopp’s handling of the situation.
Because there is no doubt the Dee are desperate to enjoy the young Welshman in dark blue for as long as possible.
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