Dundee 1
Dundee Utd 3
League (Premier Division)

Match Report

After the fighting draw with Celtic, team changes were limited to Brian Welsh and John O'Neil replacing Dave Narey and Michael O'Neill. This meant John Clark continued in his striking role. If the first derby match of the season had been something of a let down, then this second encounter had more than sufficient action and drama to satisfy the most demanding of fans. The catalogue of incident began after only nine minutes when Den Bieman headed a McQuillan cross against the face of the bar. For Gary Bollan this was to be an afternoon of completely contrasting fortunes. First he was booked for "feigning injury" after being body-checked by Jim Duffy. Not too long after that he rose to head in the game's opening goal. Dundee equalised ten minutes before the break when Billy Dodds hooked a Campbell corner over the line. Dundee did threaten twice more before the interval, but the second half saw the game change direction.

From the moment John Clark headed against the bar, you felt there was only going to be one winner and that it would be United. That conviction was further endorsed when Billy McKinlay's lob allowed Paddy Connolly to breach the heart of the Dundee defence. Our prospects of victory almost immediately received a setback with the dismissal of Gary Bollan even although, he appeared to have won the ball first in a challenge with Alan Dinnie. The drama continued as we scored a third goal after a state of chaos reigned in the Dundee penalty area following a pass-back to Mathers. The end result was an involuntary header from a prostrate John Clark as the ball hit him on the head as he lay on the ground. Even reduced to ten men we might have added a fourth but substitute Michael O'Neill's shot hit the post. This was a gutsy performance by the Tangerines and, surprisingly, it was our first derby success in six league outings against our city rivals.