The Dundee derby has graced the Scottish football card with some classic contests. Our football writer Ian Roache picks out three memorable Tannadice wins for both Dundee United and Dundee.
TANGERINE DREAMLAND
United 5 Dundee 1
January 30, 1980.
Attendance: 18,604. Scottish Cup third round.
United: McAlpine, Holt, Hegarty, Kopel, Stark, Phillip, Fleming, Bannon (Kirkwood), Payne, Pettigrew (Dodds), Sturrock.
Dundee: Donaldson, Millar, Schaedler, MacLaren, Glennie, Shirra, Murphy, Mackie, Pirie, Sinclair, Redford.
~ Dundee fans of a certain age should look away now. The Willie Pettigrew show was a painful watch for the visitors. The United striker put the hosts ahead on 28 minutes before Jim Shirra of Dundee had a “goal” chalked off. Paul Sturrock made it 2-0 to United four minutes after the break then Pettigrew score another goal with 59 on the clock. The Dark Blues then fell to pieces as first Stewart MacLaren then Eric Sinclair were sent off for off-the-ball incidents involving Billy Kirkwood and Paul Hegarty respectively. To this day, Dundee fans will argue Sinclair’s innocence. Pettigrew wasn’t bothered, though, and notched his hat-trick on 68 minutes. A virtuoso display from the frontman then saw him net a fourth from the penalty spot with six minutes to go. Billy Pirie grabbed a last-minute consolation for the bruised and battered nine-man Dundee.
United 4 Dundee 0
April 3, 1985.
Attendance: 15,167. Premier Division.
United: McAlpine, Gough, Malpas, Beaumont, Hegarty, Narey, Bannon, Taylor, Kirkwood, Sturrock, Dodds.
Dundee: Geddes, McGeachie, McKinlay, McCormack, Smith, Brown, Forsyth, Richardson (Kidd 79), Hendry (McCall 62), Rafferty, Stephen.
~ The Tangerines scored three late goals to hammer how their superiority over their neighbours. Eamonn Bannon opened the scoring after 22 minutes and, despite dominating the derby, United had to wait until 77 minutes for Paul Sturrock to shoot home. Alex Taylor (80) then Davie Dodds (87) got in on the act as the home side made Archie Knox’s team suffer.
United 6 Dundee 2
January 1, 2015.
Attendance: 12,964. Scottish Premiership.
United: Cierzniak, Townsend, Dillon, Watson, Fojut, Mackay-Steven, Rankin, Erskine (Dow 61), Armstrong, Butcher (Telfer 74), Ciftci (Connolly 74).
Dundee: Schenk, Irvine, McPake, Konrad (Tankulic 63), Dyer, McAlister, McGowan, Harkins (Boyle 46), Stewart, Davidson, Clarkson (Carriero 71).
~ Stuart Armstrong’s backside deflected in the opening goal after just 31 seconds and the rest of the match was a real bummer for the visitors. It looked bright for Dundee when Greg Stewart curled in a fabulous freekick on 24 minutes to level but just three minutes later Gary Mackay-Steven restored their lead with another cracker. Chris Erskine made it 3-1 then Mackay-Steven made it 4-1 United at the break after Armstrong’s slide-rule pass. Giant defender Jaroslaw Fojut added another on 64 minutes before sub Charlie Telfer grabbed the sixth with seven minutes left. As reporters like me started opening the record books, Luka Tankulic netted a consolation for the Dark Blues with seconds remaining. It was a Happy New Year for the Tangerines and the first – and so far only time – United have scored six times in a derby.
DARK BLUE DELIGHT
United 0 Dundee 3
November 8, 1986.
Attendance: 11,728. Premier Division.
United: Thomson, Beaumont, Malpas, McGinnis (Hegarty 46), Redford, McInally (Gallacher 66), Bowman, Clark, Bannon, Coyne, Ferguson.
Dundee: Geddes, Shannon, McKinlay (Campbell 69), McGeachie, Smith, Duffy, Rafferty, Jack, Harvey, Angus, Stephen.
~ The visitors were up for this one right from the start and took the lead after just five minutes when Graham Harvey’s looping header from Rab Shannon’s cross beat United goalkeeper Billy Thomson. It was future United man Shannon who made it 2-0 to Dundee with a scrappy second on 62 minutes before Harvey netted the Dark Blues’ third with six minutes to go. With Jim Duffy producing a man-of-the-match performance at the heart of the Dundee defence, the Dark Blues’ fans thoroughly enjoyed their day out.
United 1 Dundee 3
November 28, 1987.
Attendance: 13,626. Premier Division.
United: Thomson, Hegarty, Malpas, Narey, Bowman, McInally, Clark, G. McLeod, Paatelainen, Ferguson, Gallacher (J. McLeod 79).
Dundee: Geddes, Forsyth, McGeachie, Shannon, Smith, Chisholm, Mennie, Rafferty, Wright, Coyne, Angus.
~ It was the “Cobra and Mongoose” show at Tannadice as Tommy Coyne (nicknamed the former) and his strike partner Keith Wright (the latter) savaged United. The deadly duo were brilliant on the day and combined for the opener after only two minutes when Coyne converted Wright’s cross with a crisp, first-timed strike. John Clark equalised for the hosts on 37 minutes but the second half belonged to Dundee. Coyne grabbed his second against his old club on 65 minutes before Wright pounced after Stuart Rafferty’s shot had struck the post to make it 3-1.
United 0 Dundee 2
November 11, 2000
Attendance: 11,454. Scottish Premier League
United: Combe, Partridge, Aljofree (Fullarton 73), Licina, McQuillan, Buchan, Miller, Easton, Hannah, Naveda (Thompson 83), Atangana (McConalogue 59).
Dundee: Rocatti, Smith, De Marchi, Tweed, Marrocco, Artero (Sara 81), Rae, Nemsadze, Bonetti, Falconer (Carranza 78), Caniggia.
~ The Dens men went up the road with the three points thanks to two of the biggest stars of the Ivano Bonetti era: Claudio Caniggia and Georgi Nemsadze.
The Argentinian ace got the ball rolling on 29 minutes when he took a neat forward pass from Willie Falconer then picked his spot past keeper Alan Combe. Nemsadze then wrote himself into club folklore with one of the cheekiest goals ever scored by a Dundee player at Tannadice. With 74 minutes on the clock, the classy Georgian chipped the ball over the head of a forlorn Combe from 10 yards. The defeat left Alex Smith’s side winless and rock-bottom of the league, with just two points from 15 matches.
