Dundee’s mentality monsters struck again as they rescued a well-earned point at Kilmarnock.
Chief monster is Joe Shaughnessy – a man who just loves scoring goals with the last action of the game.
Two away matches running, the Dens skipper has done just that.
This time to rescue a deserved draw from a game that appeared to have run away from them.
After conceding twice beyond the 86th minute, Shaughnessy’s late goal showed yet again this Dundee side are very, very hard to beat.
Courier Sport was there to analyse all the drama in the 2-2 draw at Rugby Park.
Late goals
Dundee are never beaten until the final whistle goes – Kilmarnock know that more than most.
Two matches this season have seen Derek McInnes’ men leading the Dark Blues 2-1 before a stoppage-time corner pegged them back.
The Dee also scored with 97 on the clock at Ross County, though they conceded after the same time at Motherwell to let two points slip.
Late drama aplenty and it seems Joe Shaughnessy is addicted to it more than most.
He’s scored four goals this season – equalling his best personal scoring tally in a season ever.
All four away from home, all four coming after the 80th minute and all four winning points for his side.
Without those Shaughnessy goals, Dundee would be five points worse off this season.
Luke McCowan
If Shaughnessy is Dundee’s specialist from set-pieces, Luke McCowan is their long-range specialist.
His opening goal at Kilmarnock was somewhat forgotten about after all the late shenanigans.
But it shouldn’t be. Finding space on the edge of the area, the star man of the Dark Blues midfield picked his spot and found it.
It may be behind the chip against Hearts and the free-kick against Livingston in the high quality stakes.
But that’s three classy goals from outside the area and yet another impressive show from McCowan.
Changes
Tony Docherty wanted a reaction from his side after the Boxing Day defeat against Celtic.
To help spark that, he rang the changes. Four in total as Mo Sylla, Scott Tiffoney, Josh Mulligan and Ryan Howley came in.
The last time any of them started was on November 5 when Sylla faced Livingston.
This, though, was the first time all four had been in the same starting XI. A new team basically.
Once more that speaks to the spirit and mentality throughout Docherty’s squad. There’s not just a good XI at Dens this season. It’s a solid, solid squad.
Howley played as right wing-back, a position we’ve not seen him in. At first the Coventry loanee looked a little unsure but played his way into the game.
Sylla impressed in the holding midfield role and may well have done enough to earn a second-straight start when St Johnstone come to town on Tuesday.
Mulligan had some good moments and picked up a wee assist for the pass into McCowan for the opener.
Not much came off for Tiffoney, though, and he’s yet to really nail down a starting spot since joining in the summer.
Overall, however, whether there are changes or no changes we know what we’re going to get from this Dundee squad – a team that’s very, very hard to beat.
Defence
For much of the second half, it looked like a classic backs-to-the-wall defensive display was going to earn Dundee the three points.
Kilmarnock threw cross after cross into the area with Shaughnessy winning header after header.
If it wasn’t the skipper, someone else in dark blue was there to clear. Aaron Donnelly did well, Jordan McGhee too, in the back three.
But the nature of the goals conceded will rankle, particularly after all the good work done up to that point.
Joe Wright’s leveller for 1-1 came after a mix-up between Shaughnessy and goalkeeper Trevor Carson.
The keeper tried to catch, defender tried to head away and neither managed either.
The second was more of a scramble that could have been dealt with at source better.
Carson and Shaughnessy combined at the other end to right their errors, however.
The goalkeeper came up and ran interference, distracting defenders enough to leave Shaughnessy free to head home.
And to keep the mentality monsters motoring.
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