Another late Dundee giveaway spoils top 6 party as agonising weakness strikes again – 4 talking points from Motherwell collapse

Never mind the pitch, it’ll be the Dundee players who were reluctant to come out from under the covers on Sunday morning.

Two-nil up and sitting pretty with a top-six spot set to be all wrapped up with a couple of matches to spare.

Dees could be forgiven for thinking it was too simple – and completely unfamiliar – to see their side secure Premiership safety with seven matches still to go.

But the players showed that nothing is ever simple when Dundee are involved.

This was the sorest defeat of the season for the Dark Blues – worse than the 7-1 thrashing at Celtic, worse than the collapse at Hearts and worse than the home hammering dished out by Rangers.

Worse than all three by quite a way because of what was at stake – hold on for the win and the top six was assured. With it, an iron-clad guarantee of Premiership football next season.

And beyond that the gap to a potential European slot held by St Mirren would be cut to just one point.

But they couldn’t hold on.

Courier Sport was there to analyse all the action.

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Dundee had the better of the first half and grabbed the opener through Jordan McGhee. But it was all Motherwell in the second.

Despite that, Luke McCowan grabbed a wonderful second goal, curling in straight from a corner kick.

There was no sign of any big issue for the Dark Blues going into the final stages, despite the Steelmen putting on the pressure.

It took an unfortunate penalty decision to allow the visitors a route back into the contest.

But, after that, Dundee can only look at themselves. Between Georgie Gent making it 2-1 on 79 minutes and the 85th minute it could easily have been 4-2 to Motherwell.

The home defence was all over the place. That was clear in Motherwell’s second – Theo Bair was left one-on-one with Aaron Donnelly and proved too fast, too strong for the young defender.

Bair was then too clever for Jon McCracken and suddenly the Dundee defence couldn’t cope with the big Canadian.

Rarely have this Dee defence looked so stretched but far too often we’ve seen points thrown away late in games.

It has been a real weakness for a team that otherwise would be sailing into the top six and even higher.

Just looking at Motherwell games this term – that’s two crucial stoppage-time goals for the Steelmen, turning one point into none for Dundee this weekend and three into one back in December.

Holding on for those three points would have been enough to secure sixth spot.

Decisions

Dens boss Tony Docherty pointed to the VAR decision to award a penalty to Motherwell as the turning point in the game.

It’s hard to argue with that.

You can argue with the decisions made by the officials, however.

With the handball law currently as it is, Joe Shaughnessy’s block with his arm was always going to be given as a penalty. Regardless of whether he meant it or the ball being struck from no distance. It feels unfair because the defender could do little about it, but that’s the law.

The bigger gripe came due to Gent’s encroachment before knocking in the rebound following McCracken’s spot-kick save.

The full-back was clearly in the box when the ball was struck and therefore his goal shouldn’t have counted. How VAR let that slide, only the officials know.

Dundee can certainly feel hard-done-by in a crucial moment of the game.

Pitch

All eyes were on the Dens Park pitch.

And it looked horrendous.

The pitch inspection didn’t give much confidence the game would go ahead without a hitch.

It appeared bruised and battered and in a sorry state.

The run-up to the game was a farce. A farce of Dundee’s own making.

The day of the game threatened more with two pitch inspections. But they got the game on and further farce was averted.

Once the match started, though, the surface didn’t affect the game too much.

How the pitch is shaping up for the visit of Rangers on Wednesday, we’ll have to wait and see.

Main men

Since the calendar ticked over into 2024, Dundee’s top scorers have been Luke McCowan and Jordan McGhee.

And, once more, they were the names on the scoresheet.

McCowan now has nine goals to his name this season, already the best league tally of his career.

Six of those have come in 2024 and in his last eight games.

McGhee, meanwhile, has four in 11 – a super return for a right wing-back.

Those two will be crucial if Dundee can grab the three points they need to clinch sixth spot this week.