Five months ago, Livingston vs Dundee was set to be a regular league match for the 2012/2013 season.
When the SFL fixture list was originally released back in June, Dundee were scheduled to be coming here to the Braidwood Motor Company Stadium on the second day of the season on league duty. However, the demise of Rangers changed all that and meant that the Dark Blues were offered the chance to step up into the SPL via the backdoor and replace the former Glasgow giants.
It’s fair to say that the decision caused a clash of emotions between Dundee fans. There was obvious delight at gaining promotion back to Scotland’s top tier for the first time since we condemned them to relegation back in 2005, but the task ahead was one which many feared might be beyond their capability.
It was only a matter of weeks between Dundee receiving the invite from the SPL and the start of the campaign, this meaning that Barry Smith had been putting together a squad to try and win the first division, not one to compete in the SPL.
Fifteen games in and the current SPL league table shows that life in the SPL hasn’t been overly kind to the Dark Blues as Smith’s boys sit stranded at the bottom of the pile. Only three league wins to date and a goal difference of minus seventeen hasn’t made for great viewing for the Dee faithful.
After scraping past Peterhead on penalties in the first round of the Scottish Communities League Cup, Dundee were then knocked out by Third Division Queens Park in the next round meaning there hasn’t even been the joy of a cup run to take their minds off the league form.
Shock wins against both Hearts and Hibs last month helped claw back some points but last week’s 3-1 defeat away to St Mirren means the gap at the bottom has stretched again and the wind may just have been knocked out of the Dundee sails just as things looked to be clicking for Smith and his players.
We did of course meet with Dundee on four occasions in the league last season but Smith has added no fewer than twelve new faces to the side with the likes of Colin Nish, Mark Kerr and John Baird all being brought in to strengthen the squad. Nish has helped himself to a couple of Dundee’s few SPL goals but a straight red card for an uncharacteristic lunge against St Mirren last week means he may be ruled out with suspension today.
One man who will be playing today is ex-Lion Rab Douglas. ‘Big Rab’ turned 40 earlier this year and is in his second spell with Dundee. Many Livi fans will remember Rab when he played for us back in our early days before John McCormack took him to Dens Park in 1997. Since then the big ‘keeper went on to win SPL titles, play in the UEFA Cup final, represent his country and he still holds the SPL record for most consecutive clean sheets after racking up 7 during his first season with the Celtic.
As mentioned, the sides did meet on four occasions last season with Dundee winning three of those four, However, the matches here did throw up more goals and excitement than those at Dens with a 4-2 Livi win being countered with a 3-2 Dundee win second time round. Here’s hoping for more of the same today as both sides look to start their own road to Hampden with a win this afternoon.
Dave Black.
As published in 'ROAR' - the Livingston FC matchday magazine.
When the SFL fixture list was originally released back in June, Dundee were scheduled to be coming here to the Braidwood Motor Company Stadium on the second day of the season on league duty. However, the demise of Rangers changed all that and meant that the Dark Blues were offered the chance to step up into the SPL via the backdoor and replace the former Glasgow giants.
It’s fair to say that the decision caused a clash of emotions between Dundee fans. There was obvious delight at gaining promotion back to Scotland’s top tier for the first time since we condemned them to relegation back in 2005, but the task ahead was one which many feared might be beyond their capability.
It was only a matter of weeks between Dundee receiving the invite from the SPL and the start of the campaign, this meaning that Barry Smith had been putting together a squad to try and win the first division, not one to compete in the SPL.
Fifteen games in and the current SPL league table shows that life in the SPL hasn’t been overly kind to the Dark Blues as Smith’s boys sit stranded at the bottom of the pile. Only three league wins to date and a goal difference of minus seventeen hasn’t made for great viewing for the Dee faithful.
After scraping past Peterhead on penalties in the first round of the Scottish Communities League Cup, Dundee were then knocked out by Third Division Queens Park in the next round meaning there hasn’t even been the joy of a cup run to take their minds off the league form.
Shock wins against both Hearts and Hibs last month helped claw back some points but last week’s 3-1 defeat away to St Mirren means the gap at the bottom has stretched again and the wind may just have been knocked out of the Dundee sails just as things looked to be clicking for Smith and his players.
We did of course meet with Dundee on four occasions in the league last season but Smith has added no fewer than twelve new faces to the side with the likes of Colin Nish, Mark Kerr and John Baird all being brought in to strengthen the squad. Nish has helped himself to a couple of Dundee’s few SPL goals but a straight red card for an uncharacteristic lunge against St Mirren last week means he may be ruled out with suspension today.
One man who will be playing today is ex-Lion Rab Douglas. ‘Big Rab’ turned 40 earlier this year and is in his second spell with Dundee. Many Livi fans will remember Rab when he played for us back in our early days before John McCormack took him to Dens Park in 1997. Since then the big ‘keeper went on to win SPL titles, play in the UEFA Cup final, represent his country and he still holds the SPL record for most consecutive clean sheets after racking up 7 during his first season with the Celtic.
As mentioned, the sides did meet on four occasions last season with Dundee winning three of those four, However, the matches here did throw up more goals and excitement than those at Dens with a 4-2 Livi win being countered with a 3-2 Dundee win second time round. Here’s hoping for more of the same today as both sides look to start their own road to Hampden with a win this afternoon.
Dave Black.
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