9th March 2019. Dundee v Hearts. 0-1

I don't know why but I bought a ticket for this match while I was on holiday in Agadir. After being at Firhill for the Scottish cup-tie on Monday night I was already regretting my decision and my apprehension proved to be correct. I investigated travelling to Dundee by Megabus in an effort to save money but the journey takes ninety minutes to I decided to go by train. I spent £28.60 for a return ticket and as the train to Dundee was heading on to Aberdeen I decided too book my seat for the outward journey. I left the house at 12.10 to catch the 12.35 train from Haymarket. At the station I met David, who I knew from my working days, and we had a chat about Hearts, sharing our concerns about the current side. When the train came in I asked the guard which one was coach B as I had booked my seat. He replied that there were no bookings on this service so I just had to grab the nearest available seat. With the train going on to Aberdeen there was only a stop at Leuchars before Dundee and I arrive in Dundee around 13.40.

The ground is around one and a half miles from the station and I walked to Dens Park arriving around 14.05 for the 15.00 kickoff. After purchasing aerogramme, a good read for £3, I entered the ground and headed for the catering stall. I was having a coffee and a sausage roll when I met a guy I had spoken to before at some the matches and we chatted for about twenty minutes about the Hearts side and other grounds we had been to this season. Hearts made two changes from Monday nights side with David Vanecek and Calumn Morrison coming into the side to replace Olly Bozanic and Steven McLean. Craig Wighton, a former Dundee player, was fit again after injury and having played in a few reserve games took his place on the bench for Hearts. Dundee have struggled all season and are currently second bottom of the SPL. Manager Jim McIntyre has made a number of changes since he took over from Neil McCann earlier in the season and the Dundee side had an unfamiliar look. The side however contained former Hearts star Ryan McGowan, on loan from Bradford City, along with Kenny Miller who has the unfortunate distinction of having played for Hibs, Celtic and Rangers during a long career. However he did also play for Stenhousemuir, Wolves and Scotland along with a spell in the USA.

The match started and in the early stages Dundee had the most of the attacking play without troubling ‘Bobby’ Zlamal in the Hearts goal. After thirteen minutesyin what was their first attacking move Hearts took the lead. Arnaud Djoum broke down the left and sent a low cross towards the six yard box. Ikpeazu and Morrison went for the bell along with two Dundee defenders and all four fell to the ground. The ball broke to Sean Clare about seven yards from goal on the right of the six yard box and he toe-poked the ball past goalkeeper Sengy Dieng into the net. Shortly after the goal Kenny Miller surprised Zamal when he attempted a shot from a tight angle rather than a pass into the front of the goal. The big keeper stuck out a foot to divert the ball for a corner. Hearts then had their best spell of the game with Uche Ikpeazu causing the defence problems with his strength and running power. Morrison brought a good save from Dieng when he ran onto a through ball from Djoum and shot from just outside the penalty box. When he attempted a similar run minutes later he was tripped on the edge of the penalty box.  Clare ran over the ball at the free kick and Ben Garroucio hit a left foot shot towards goal. The ball however ran out of play beyond the far post.

The second half was in reality an excuse for a football match. Hearts seemed to adopt a 'what we have we will hold attitude" and played like they had on Monday at Patrick with the main tactic being lumping high balls up the field. While Dundee had a lot of the ball both Christophe Berra and John Souttar, augmented by Clevid Dikomona late in the game, stood firm in defence and Dundee were unable to trouble Zamal in goal for long spells. In the second half Hearts had only two significant attacking moves with the first ended when Ikpeazu hit a weak shot straight at Dieng for a comfortable save. Wighton came on for Vanecek and had a good run from midfield which ended with a shot past the post. The standard of football was summed up when fifteen minutes in the second half two guys sitting behind me said to their mates - " This is awful. We are heading to the pub we were in before the game and will see you there". £26 a ticket and leaving after an hour! Dundee can to life as the match drew to a close. A free-kick cleared by the Hearts defence was nodded back in the penalty box towards Kenny Miller. He put in a strong header from around eight yards out across goal which looked like it was going in at the far post. As Miller turned away to celebrate Zlamal dived across the goal and turned the ball round the post from a corner. From the resultant corner substitute John O'Sullivan hit a strong shot from around twenty five yards as the ball was cleared out to him. Again Zlamal came to the rescue by diving through the air and tipping the shot over the bar for another corner. Hearts attitude towards the match can be summed up by the replacement of attacking players Morrison and Clare by centre-half Dikomona and defensive midfielder Olly Bozanic. 

When the final whistle sounded I made a swift exit and hurried down the hill towards the railway station. I arrived at the station at 17.18 in time to catch the direct train back to Haymarket rather than the 17.35 I had originally booked on. The direct train only stopped at Leachers before Haymarket while the later service meanders through Fife stopping at a number of stations en-route. I arrived back home just before 18.30 after getting off the train at Haymerket.

Teams

Dundee: Dieng, Ralph, O'Dea, Wright, R. McGowan, Robson, Dales, Miller, C. Curran, Horsefield.
Subs: P. McGowan, O'Sullivan, J. Curran.
Hearts: Zlamal, Godinho, Souttar, Berra, Garuccio, Morrison, Haring, Djoum, Clare, Ikpeazu, Vanecek.

Subs: Wighton, Dikomina, Bozanic.