42

Dens Park

Sunday 11^th January 2026

After last week’s epic adventure I was hoping for something much more tame this week, at least off the pitch. On the pitch I was hoping for, and maybe expecting, fireworks.

I realise this entry should be about Dundee but anyone who has given Scottish football even a passing glance this season will know it’s all about Hearts. Today’s visitors sit top of the table with a six point gap back to Celtic and Rangers after 20 games. In part this can be put down to the inexplicable dysfunction of the two Old Firm teams. Rangers started poorly with draws in their first four games and only 9 points after eight games. This resulted in fans physically threatening their new manager, Russell Martin, at Falkirk before he was sacked the following day.

Never one to let the blue half of Glasgow get the headlines Celtic decided to take things to another level. After an acrimonious, and very public, breakdown in relationship with their manager, Brendan Rodgers, the two agreed to part ways and Celtic brought back club hero Martin O’Neill to take temporary charge. A long list of permanent options were widely discussed before they settled on taking Wilfried Nancy from Columbus Crew of all places. The timing of this seemed poorly thought out as his first three games were Hearts (loss), Roma in the Europa League (loss), and St Mirren in the League Cup Final (loss). The pressure was already on before he lost again at Dundee United and in doing so gained the unwanted record for the worst ever start for a Celtic manager. Further losses to Motherwell and Rangers either side of New Year’s Eve made it six losses from eight and he was sacked after just 33 days. Somehow Celtic are now looking for their fourth manager of the season….

None of this should take anything away from what Hearts have achieved so far this season. They haven’t dropped a point to Celtic or Rangers so far this season, are currently the favourites with the bookies to claim the Scottish Premiership, and if they can hold on they would be the first team outside the Old Firm to do so since the 1985/86 season. The club were ambitious in their talk and actions over the summer but no-one expected results this quickly.

What of Dundee though? After finishing last season in tenth place and narrowly avoiding the relegation playoff they made the decision to sack their manager, Tony Docherty. He was replaced by Steven Pressley, whose attitude and appearance is closer to a substitute teacher than a top flight manager, in a move that seemed to excite absolutely none of the fanbase. The media and the supporters seemed to agree that a long and difficult season was in store and early on they were made favourites for relegation to the Championship.

The first few games of the season seemed to support this prediction. Dundee picked up just nine points from their first 13 games although a third of these did manage to come from a shock win over Celtic at Dens Park. Goals were especially hard to come by as they only managed nine during the same run.

Pressley’s dour demeanour didn’t help things and seemed to wind fans up whenever he talked of being able to see the progress that his group of players were making off the pitch. Regardless of whether any progress was being made results were not forthcoming. Dundee had gone out of the League Cup after the group stage and were stuck at the bottom of the table with only Livingstone in their sights.

Then came the festive period and Pressley seemed to get absolutely everything he had asked for. A home win against the surprise team of the season, Falkirk, was followed by a win away at managerless Kilmarnock before they headed across the street for the derby against Dundee United. United have had their own struggles since I saw them earlier this season but they would still have expected to see off Dundee. The game was fairly open but in truth United never looked likely to win it and Dundee managed to grab their third consecutive victory, a run of form that has seen them climb to heady heights of ninth and with clear daylight between them and the bottom two teams. The visit of Hearts would be an entirely different prospect though and would provide a real test of the form Dundee bring into the game.

The week leading up to the game had been a bit of a nightmare. The weather warning that I had driven through last week had turned into a persistent blizzard that had left Aberdeen under 18 inches of snow. This meant long and tiring treks into work while wearing wellies trying to keep things going as more and more staff phoned in unable to get to the hospital. On top of this I was having to plan for the impending resident doctor strikes, a task that felt impossible at times and which was eventually futile when the strike was inevitably called off late on Friday afternoon.

The persistent snow and ice had worried me at various points throughout the week as almost all roads around (and out of) Aberdeen had been impassable at times and trains had been entirely cancelled for days on end. As the week went on though the weather seemed to settle a little. I was finally able to dig the car out on Friday evening and by Saturday the forecast was looking reasonable enough for me to be optimistic about my ability to drive down to Dundee for the early kick-off on Sunday.

I woke on Sunday to the sound of thunderous wind and torrential rain. The good news was that this had done a number on the snow which had all but disappeared, but the bad news was that it would be another miserable drive. After battling through the standing water and the spray I arrived in Dundee in good time and parked in exactly the same place as I had when I came down for Dundee United at the end of last year.

I walked as quickly as I could to avoid get too wet in the rain but still took a quick detour to remind myself just how close Dens Park is to Tannadice. Dundee are looking to build a new stadium in the coming years and it will be a shame when the two grounds are no longer separated by just the width of a street.

I made my way into the ground and was very pleased at my forethought to have chosen a seat quite high and towards the back of the stand. It meant that I was shielded from the weather as the rain continued to hammer down. I was dead centre behind the goal in the Bobby Cox stand with a great view of the rest of the ground. Hearts had brought a huge number of fans with them and they all but filled the Bob Shankly (brother of Bill) stand opposite me as well as around half of the oddly shaped and designed North stand. Across from the North stand is the unimaginatively named South stand which only runs half the pitch, the other half being an abandoned terraced section which provided no cover for the unfortunate camera man allocated that position.

The teams emerged and got through the photos and handshakes unusually quickly, clearly they weren’t keen on standing around in the rain if they could avoid it. Dundee started the brighter of the two teams and were clearly intent on taking the game to their opponents rather than sitting in and seeing what they could hold onto. Within a couple of minutes they had their first chance when a cross from Tony Yogane on the left found Billy Kometio but he couldn’t get his header past Alexander Schwolow.

Hearts started to grow into the game and they were dominating the possession. There didn’t seem to be much attacking intent though, they were generally happy playing the ball about between their defenders and midfielders. When Dundee did manage to wrestle the ball from them they moved forward quickly but either couldn’t find space for a shot or were wasteful with their finishing.

Midway through the first half Luke Graham and Cammy Devlin ran face first into each other and both went down and stayed down. Devlin looked to have come off worst and the Hearts bench looked understandably worried as absolutely everything had gone through Devlin during the first 20 minutes of so. Fortunately for them he was able to return and after hobbling around for a few minutes seemed to run off any after effects.

The half was repeatedly punctuated by soft free kicks that neither set of fans seemed to be happy about. One of these went Hearts way just outside their own box. They took the free kick about 15 yards further forward and with a ball that looked to be moving. Devlin found Lawrence Shankland who slid the ball through to Claudio Braga, he then slotted the ball into the bottom corner of the net to give Hearts the lead. Cue chants of ‘All we need is, Claudio Braga!’ the best song in football at the moment. The fans around me were furious but none of their anger seemed to be directed at their players who had completely switched off during the attack.

Right on the stroke of halftime Yogane was clean through on goal when he was brought down by Hearts’ goalkeeper Schwolow. The fans rose as one to demand a penalty (even though the foul was outside the box) and a red card. Their demands were silenced by everyone’s least favourite Tory (a hotly contested competition….) Douglas Ross who raised his flag for offside. Sensing the final whistle I escaped 30 seconds early to beat the queue for the loos.

When I returned the game still hadn’t been restarted, the offside was being reviewed by VAR and a potential red card was also being looked at. This was eventually given and Schwolow trudged off alongside Braga who was sacrificed in order to bring Craig Gordon on for Hearts. The foul was confirmed to be outside the penalty box and Gordon had to be sharp to keep out Cam Congrieve’s free kick.

During halftime (and throughout the second half) the advertising hoardings around the pitch were promoting Craig Gordon’s testimonial match and dinner. Advertising an opposition player’s testimonial while you are currently facing said player feels like a very odd choice.

As the second half got underway it was clear that Dundee were looking to make their man advantage count. They were strong from the whistle and created opportunities to attack down both wings. Despite their intent they seemed unable to beat the last man and clear chances were few and far between. At the other end Hearts were content to hold on to what they had and rebuff Dundee’s efforts. I don’t remember them having a single shot on target in the second half.

Dundee players and fans alike were frustrated throughout the half by Hearts players’ attempts to slow the game down. Chief amongst these was Gordon although in fairness to him it was difficult to tell whether what he was doing was deliberate timewasting or just a consequence of being 43.

In the last ten minutes Dundee ramped up their all out attack on Hearts’ goal. They won a series of corners and peppered Gordon’s box with crosses that the Hearts defenders did well to keep out. The final attack of the game came in the third and final minute of added time. A well placed cross was met at the near post by substitute Emile Acquah. His header was powerful and directed low to Gordon’s left. From my spot behind the goal it looked like the equaliser from the moment it left his head but somehow Gordon got down to keep it out. It was one of the best saves I’ve ever seen and listening to Radio Scotland as I walked back to the car all the pundits were expressing similar thoughts. Ironically for Dundee I doubt there is any chance that Schwolow would have made that save if he was still on the pitch.

The game didn’t have the fireworks that I expected but it was a brilliant watch nonetheless. Dundee have been criticised this season for playing boring football but there was none of that on display today. For Hearts part this was the type of game they need more of if they are to win the league. They didn’t play well but overcame significant adversity to take home the three points regardless.

The Facts

• Ground
  • Dens Park
• Home
  • Dundee
• Away
  • Hearts
• Competition
  • Scottish Premiership
• Result
  • 0 – 1
• Scorers
  • Claudio Braga
• Attendance
  • 8,525
• Cost
  • £30
• Total distance travelled
  • 130 miles
• Transport
  • Car
• My MotM
  • Billy Kometio, Hearts are the top scorers in the league this year and Kometio (and Luke Graham alongside him) kept them to just two shots on target all game. Kometio also managed to pop up in the opposition box with a couple of headers that on another day might have grabbed him a goal.