Dundee stole a point in dramatic fashion by scoring twice in injury time against city rivals Dundee United- drawing 2-2 at Dens Park. Austin Fenton reports from Tayside.
Steven Pressley would have struggled to find a reason to change his side that beat in-form Motherwell 2-1 last weekend, and as such his side was unaltered.
Jim Goodwin, seeking his first away win in over a month, made three changes to the team that lost at Falkirk in the Scottish Cup quarter-final. Panutche Camara, Kristijan Trapanovski and Zachary Sapsford made way for Amar Fatah, Iuri Iovu and Neil Farrugia.
Before a ball was kicked, the city united in applause; paying respects to former manager Gordon Wallace who sadly passed away on Saturday.
First Half
That said, it only took a few minutes after kickoff for either side to fire up. Cameron Congreve and Amar Fatah wasted no time in showing their energy up the wings for their respective teams.
United missed a guilt-edge opportunity to break the deadlock after eight minutes. After his corner was only half cleared by Dundee, Fatah skipped into the penalty box before delivering a cross across goal. Iovu rose highest to meet the ball from just six yards out but sent his header over the bar.
In spite of an end to end opening thirty minutes, Dundee struggled to create clear cut chances and the visitors were looking more and more likely to open the scoring.
Jon McCracken was just about the only factor keeping honors even in the closing stages of the first half. Having already denied Fatah on two occasions earlier, the 25-year-old produced a stunning save to tip a powerful effort from Vicko Sevelj over the crossbar.
Second Half
United picked up where they left off and spurned another chance within a minute of the restart – Luca Stephenson snuck in at the back post to meet a Will Ferry cross but saw his effort fly past the post.
Just a minute after, Emmanuel Agyei tried to scoop a ball in behind the Dundee box for Will Ferry to chase and an outstretched arm from former Tangerine Simon Murray blocked the ball. Duncan Nicholson wasted no time in pointing to the spot.
Amar Fatah – arguably United’s best player on the pitch – took responsibility from twelve yards and made no mistake, sending McCracken the wrong way and sparking wild celebrations in the away end.
United kept their tempo and struck their second with twenty-four minutes to play.
Ferry and Stephenson, who had been tormenting the Dundee defence from wing-back, finally got the combination spot on. The latter sent another dangerous ball in from the left flank for the Liverpool loanee who made no mistake on this occasion, heading in off the crossbar from close range.
United were 2-0 up and derby day looked settled. A few Dundee fans had seen enough and made an early exit.
Steven Pressley – who had pulled his players over to the dugout after United doubled up – made a flurry of changes, including Ashley Hay who had scored the winner at Tannadice earlier this season.
The injection of fresh legs certainly worked. With three minutes of normal time left to play Hay fired across goal and found the back of the net by means of a heavy deflection but the offside flag denied a goal that would have halved the deficit.
But, if at first you don’t succeed…
Six minutes were to be added on and only one set of fans seemed to be enjoying the closing stages of the game. Dundee United’s noisy support had belted out ‘Beautiful Sunday’ more times than you could count and a few had decided the sunny weather was enough to go topless.
On minute ninety-four substitute Finlay Robertson’s inswinging corner resulted in pinball in the penalty area and Ashley Hay stabbed home on the line.
At first glance it seemed like too little all too late. Nothing more than a consolation in a derby where Dundee didn’t quite turn up. That said, there were two minutes left on the clock.
Shortly after play resumed, Ross Graham flew into a late challenge on Ashley Hay some thirty-five yards from goal. The skipper was booked and gave Dundee one last chance to get a ball in the box.
John McCracken going up made it pretty obvious that Pressley was throwing the kitchen sink at it. Finlay Robertson stood over the dead ball and whipped it in towards the back stick. On its flight, it struck the top of the head of an unsuspecting Ross Graham.
The United captain could only watch in horror as his header flew beyond Ashley Maynard-Brewer and into the top corner.
Everyone in orange fell into stunned silence, but the navy blue end of Dundee exploded with unbridled, downright bewildered joy. This was a rescue mission and a half, and Steven Pressley’s Dundee proved just how plucky and determined they can be.
From two goals down, the Dee had snatched a point on derby day.
Post Match
Jim Goodwin couldn’t quite fathom what had happened.
“It just sums up our season. I’ve lost count of the amount of times we’ve dropped points from winning positions. It’s pathetic, really.
“I can’t believe that five minutes before the game finishes we’re feeling good about ourselves and having witnessed one of the best Dundee United performances in a Dundee Derby in a long, long time… one of the most one-sided derbies that I’ve seen for a number of years. We could have been, or should have been, four or five-nil up before Dundee put the ball in the back of our net.
“It’s really, really difficult to put into words right now.”
Suffice to say, Steven Pressley was in a better mood.
“It’s amazing. I thought we started the game well and for thirty-five minutes we looked… not in control, and not quite like ourselves but we were showing signs. Then for fifty-five minutes we were a shadow of ourselves.
“The one thing about this group of players is that they’ve demonstrated time and time again that they have the ability to respond to adversity. They never lost that mentality, and that’s what I’m proud of.
Pressley explained what was going on when he’d pulled his team off after United’s second:
“It wasn’t a kick up the backside. Not at all. It was to say to them that we needed to show the confidence to really play. I’ve seen us grow as a team and one of the things that we’ve grown in is belief and the ability to play under pressure. We got a little bit spooked during that period and I wanted to see us get more control of the game – show some courage, that was my message.”
“We remain five games unbeaten, and I’m certain for supporters that it’ll feel like a win today.”
Today’s draw all but ended Dundee United’s top six hopes and extend’s Dundee’s unbeaten run at Dens Park to four. Only table-topping Hearts have won there in 2026, and it’s their home patch – Tynecastle – where the Dee are headed next Saturday.
Jim Goodwin and Dundee United will have fellow title chasers Celtic visiting Tannadice next Sunday.
