Dundee and Dundee United were dealt harsh lessons by Rangers and Celtic last week.
Both city sides faced the age old problem of how to cope with players and teams who are quicker in movement, thought and touch, and who simply have superior skills.
There’s no disgrace in being beaten by the better team as long as every effort has been given on the pitch and not a drop of sweat is left to be shed.
The power brokers at Dens and Tannadice simply can’t compete in buying or indeed producing players of the quality that clubs ten times their size have the finance to do.
So it’s always an unequal battle and the occasional draw, as United gained at Parkhead earlier in the season, and the periodic and very intermittent win against the odds is the best that can be hoped for.
United didn’t help themselves last Sunday in not getting close enough to pressure Celtic, but it’s not easy to stick to ‘will o’ the wisp’ players, whose movement and use of space is on another level.
The mind may be willing but the flesh is usually too weak.
Dundee had a couple of decent chances at Ibrox but the same story applies.
If Tam Courts or James McPake could pay players ten and £15,000 a week – and a lot more in some cases – they’d be getting better results against the Glasgow duo, but until that unlikely day arrives, games against the pair will tend to be loss leaders.
The fortunes this season of the Dundee teams won’t be gauged against the outcomes of matches against Celtic and Rangers, nor will any other clubs’.
It’s a sad fact of life that the teams in the East End of Glasgow and in Govan may play in the same league, but they might as well be on a different planet for all the chance there is of competing with them over a season.
Two horse race
With United and Hearts having started so well there was just a tiny, infinitesimal glimmer of hope that a wee challenge might emerge to the duopoly, but as my old granny used to say: “Facts are chiels that winnae ding.”
As long as Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Ange Postecoglou can spend the kind of money on fees and wages which would make eyes water in other Scottish club boardrooms, we’ll continue to see a two horse race in our top league.
St Johnstone must get their ducks in a row in the January transfer window to avoid getting sucked into the vortex of a relegation battle.
They need a major injection of fresh players to ensure survival.
Their fall from grace as a double cup-wining side to one facing the whirlpool of a basement battle is as alarming as it is surprising, but there’s no time to debate how it got this bad so quick.
Callum Davidson is looking for five or six additions next month and he’ll need them to inject fresh commitment, drive and vigour to a squad which, on paper, looks a competent one, but which has veered wildly off the rails.
