Dundee

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Despite their improving performances and upturn in results over the past few months, Dundee head coach Steven Pressley has never veered from his "staying in the division is our priority" mantra.

I have seen a lot of the Dark Plues this season and watched them grow into a side who play attractive football and are capable of causing any team problems.

In recent times more often than not I have left their matches thoroughly entertained and believing they won't find themselves in any bother at the bottom.

Despite all that, Dundee are now embroiled in the fight to avoid the dreaded relegation play-off spot.

Pressley's team are eighth in the table, five points above second-bottom Kilmarnock and St Mirren and two above Aberdeen.

There are seven games left and Dundee's final pre-split fixtures are tough - at home to Celtic then a potentially pivotal trip to Killie.

Pressley has plenty to ponder during this international break, which his side went into following a difficult run of matches – a trio of home games with Hibs, Motherwell and Dundee United sandwiched between trips to Aberdeen and Hearts.

Dundee only lost one of the above fixtures, and won two, but it hasn't been enough to pull them clear of the danger zone.

The Dens Park side have spent a large part of the campaign playing catch-up after a difficult start to Pressley's reign.

They have shown enough quality to suggest survival can be achieved without a nerve-shredding finale - but no one at Dens can relax in the meantime.

Ethan Hampton
Fan writer

Dundee made Hearts work for their victory on Saturday and, on another day, could have left with a point.

There wasn't much more you could ask from Dundee when playing away to the league leaders.

We did well to restrict Hearts to a small number of chances, but the solitary goal conceded was very cheap.

And even when Hearts were reduced to 10 men in the closing stages, we still couldn't test Alexander Schwolow.

Despite heavy changes, it was arguably our strongest available XI. The major drawback was the substitutes failed to affect the game.

We're only five points above the relegation play-off spot and the league is tightening up.

Every match at both ends of the split is set to carry real significance. If we're not careful, we could slip into a dogfight.

Steven Pressley is right to emphasise that maintaining our league status must remain the priority.

We've seen character from this Dundee team several times, but now we need to see maturity as we approach the finishing line.

It's a young side, and it's crucial they don't panic or fall into complacency.

When the Celtic game comes around, it can't be viewed as a free hit. Every match between now and the end of May is winnable.

Midfielder Fin Robertson reveals training with Dundee's partner club Monterrey last summer instead of going on holiday has transformed his season. (Courier - subscription required), external

Dundee United captain Ross Graham did not want to show his face locally following his equalising own goal in the recent 2-2 draw with Dundee. (Courier - subscription required), external

Wednesday's Scottish gossip

Scotland's transport chiefs say "further clarification and evidence" is still needed over Dundee's plans for a new stadium at Camperdown. (Courier - subscription required), external

Tuesday's Scottish gossip

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Dundee lost £1.8m in the last financial year, but that was £1m less than the previous season and the Scottish Premiership club's majority shareholder promised to continue to make up the shortfall.

They expect the next two seasons to improve further.

"These projections have been drawn up on the basis of conservative assumptions as to the league position to be achieved by the football club, attendance levels at matches, and the management of all costs, including expenditure on players costs," Dundee said in their financial statement to 31 May.

The latest losses came during a season when a side under then manager Tony Docherty avoided the relegation play-off on the final day of the season by finishing 10th.

The previous season's larger loss came as they won promotion back to the top flight.

While Dundee directors "elected not to include a copy of the profit and loss account within the financial statements", it does reveal that the club spent £282,500 in transfer fees during their first season back in the Premiership as staffing increased from 80 to 85.

Among those signing for undisclosed fees were striker Simon Murray from Ross County, defender Aaron Donnelly from Nottingham Forest and left-back Imari Samuels from Brighton and Hove Albion.

Meanwhile, midfielder Luke McCowan was sold to Celtic, youth centre-back Seb Lochhead went to Wolverhampton Wanderers and teenage goalkeeper Ally Graham to Nottingham Forest.

"The financial projections which have been prepared anticipate that the company will be able to meet its ongoing financial commitments from funds generated from operations", Dundee add.

Any financial deficits would be covered by Football Partners Scotland, the company set up by chairman Tim Keyes and managing director John Nelms to buy the club.

Watch 10-man Hearts return to winning ways at the top of the Scottish Premiership with a narrow win over Dundee.

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We asked you Dundee fans for your views on the narrow loss to Hearts at Tynecastle. Here's a taste of what you had to say...

Albert: A narrow defeat to the potential champions is acceptable in my eyes. We are lacking striking options but overall are moving in the right direction.

Alex: Unlucky not to take a point there, the substitutions were the right idea from Steven Pressley but they couldn't change the game. Fin Robertson was really good and deserves to be in the lineup every week now. Two big games before the split and still very confident we will finish at the top of the bottom six.

Alan: Dundee were really well organised. They cancelled out Hearts threat for most of the game. Our only real mistake was not defending the set piece they scored from. With Killie and St Mirren winning, it was a bad week for us. But if we keep up that level of performance till the end of the season we should be okay.

Carl: It's debatable that either team deserved victory, but one lapse of concentration robbed us of a vital point.

Can't complain about effort or tactics, it just wasn't our day. Wish Lady Luck would visit us one day. Won't criticise any of our players and, for me, the standout was Luke Graham - an old head on young shoulders. He is destined for bigger things.

Looking at the league table and our run of upcoming games, it's squeaky bum time.

Brian: Poor forwards performance today, not enough class going forward. Two weeks rest to work on more graft.

Oisin McEntee's towering header gave leaders Hearts a vital victory over Dundee to ensure they head into the international break top of the Scottish Premiership.

Have your say on Dundee's performance.

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Dundee manager Steven Pressley: "It was a very tight game. There weren't a lot of great opportunities. It was fiercely contested with both teams very aggressive in their play.

"I'm disappointed because we had a number of moments where we were in good positions, on the counter attack especially, and didn't quite execute that final pass.

"Teams are trying to stop us building and playing and we need to improve on that. We need to find better solutions and work hard.

"The most important thing for ourselves is retaining our Premiership status.

"We have to get to a minimum of 38 points. We've still not achieved that as yet. We've got seven games to go and we have to ensure we pick up the adequate points required."

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Hearts welcome back Cammy Devlin and Lawrence Shankland but Tomas Magnusson is out with a broken cheekbone and Beni Baningime (knee) and Harry Milne (calf) face late checks.

Stephen Kingsley (calf), Craig Gordon (shoulder), Ageu (thigh), Stuart Findlay, Calem Nieuwenhof and Finlay Pollock (all hamstring) are still unavailable.

Dundee defender Clark Robertson is in contention to return after a thigh injury, so Yan Dhanda - ineligible to face his parent club - might be the only absentee.

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Dundee midfielder Joel Cotterill is relishing playing alongside fellow Swansea City loanee Cameron Congreve.

After progressing through the youth ranks at the Welsh club, the pair have ended up at Dens Park where they have become integral parts of Steven Pressley's ever improving Premiership side.

Congreve arrived on a season long loan in the summer and with Cotterill, 21, joined on loan in January after spending the first half of the campaign at Bristol Rovers.

"I can't get away from him," Cotterill joked.

"I know Cam's game and Cam knows mine and I think we have got a really good connection together.

"I have been at Swansea since I was seven and Cam came a year after me so it is about 13 years [playing together].

"I think the club have definitely seen that, hence why maybe they have brought me here, and Cam probably had a big input in that as well.

"Cam is a really good player and a really good lad as well so I am just happy to be playing football with him again."

Goalkeeper Jon McCracken, who has been linked with interest from the Championship in England, is among a number of key men with whom Dundee have opened contract talks, with eight senior players in the final months of their contracts. (The Courier), external

Read all of Friday's Scottish Gossip

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• Dundee are unbeaten in five league games (W2 D3), last going longer without defeat in the Scottish Premiership from January to February 2015 (eight).

• Hearts have won seven of their past nine league meetings with Dundee (L2), keeping a clean sheet in the latest five of those wins, including both this season (4-0 in November, 1-0 in January).

• Dundee have lost four of their past five Scottish Premiership trips to Hearts, winning the other 1-0 in April 2025.

• Each of Hearts' last three home league games have ended in 1-0 wins; they last won four in a row on home soil in the Premiership without conceding in March 2016.

• Since the start of February, Hearts have scored five league goals from 77 shots, a conversion rate of 6.5% - the lowest of any side in the competition in this time. Their xG/shot of 0.076 is also the lowest of any side in the top flight in this period. Meanwhile, Dundee top both of these metrics since 1 February (15.2% conversion, 0.129 xG/shot).

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

I have previously highlighted Dundee's propensity to chuck away points from positions of strength.

Last weekend they did the opposite - netting two goals in the last two minutes of added time to snatch a highly unlikely 2-2 draw with neighbours United.

Head coach Steven Pressley will have learned a lot about his side in those moments.

A never-give-up attitude will carry a team a long way and while it was far from Dundee's best performance in recent weeks, that trait was there in abundance as his team fought to the very end.

It also illustrated the steady improvement we have seen from the Dark Blues, particularly over the past few months.

There are different ways to win games and eke out draws and Pressley's team somehow found a way to do the latter when it looked to be mission impossible.

In terms of the bigger picture, eighth-place Dundee are gathering impressive momentum.

It is now just one defeat in seven league games, with Pressley stressing the need to secure survival as quickly as possible to avoid any end-of-season jitters.

Dundee will be hoping their momentum continues in a difficult double-header, away to leaders Hearts on Saturday then at home to Celtic the following week.

It's a tough assignment - but you wouldn't bet against Pressley's team continuing their upward trajectory.

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Former referee Steve Conroy thinks it is "mission creep" with VAR in Scottish football before new changes to the laws for the upcoming World Cup.

VAR was introduced in Scotland almost four years ago but has frequently been criticised by fans, players, managers and former players.

Now there could be more changes to the scope of technology as football's law-making body the International Football Association Board (Ifab) backed plans to increase the powers of VAR.

For this summer's World Cup in America, VAR will be allowed to intervene on second yellow cards and the awarding of corners, provided the process doesn't slow down the flow of play.

Ifab has also expanded the countdown rule around goalkeepers where they have eight seconds to release the ball from their hands to include goal kicks and throw-ins.

But former referee Conroy thinks involving the technology in more decision-making is bad news for the game.

"It's inescapable that there is more and more mission creep with VAR," he told the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast.

"The authorities seem hell-bent on using it more and more and relying on it and I think that is to the detriment of football.

"I know Ifab are talking about getting them involved for corners and second yellows and all that sort of stuff. As [Celtic interim manager] Martin O'Neill said, soon enough we'll just referee from a port-a-cabin somewhere.

"And this is all happening at the same time as every football supporter survey tells you that they just want it binned."

Steven Pressley says Fin Robertson "will surprise people in the coming years" as the Dundee boss took delight in the midfielder's impact off the bench recently. (The Courier)

Read the rest of Thursday's gossip.

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Dundee head coach Steven Pressley wants his in-form side to secure survival as quickly as possible to avoid getting embroiled in a nerve-shredding end to the season.

The Dark Blues have lost just one of their past seven league games and gone unbeaten in five, a run that has hoisted them to eighth in the table, eight points clear of the relegation play-off spot.

They face a stern test on Saturday at a table-topping a Hearts side who have yet to lose at Tynecastle this season.

Pressley was asked what becoming the first team to win there would mean for Dundee.

He said: "It would put us three points closer to being safe. Looking at history it will tell you around a point per game will guarantee you safety - we are only on 32, we need to at least reach 38 and again that doesn't guarantee you safety.

"So we know that the minimum we need is another couple of wins and we want to do that as quickly as possible.

"My whole objective has been survival and once we get to that point we can reassess.

"But we still have to get to that point because the one thing we don't want to be doing is facing really challenging games over the last couple of weeks of the season where there is so much at stake. We have to make sure we get the points early."

Dundee extended their unbeaten run with a remarkable comeback against neighbours United last time out, netting twice in added time for a 2-2 draw.

"We came out of the game in high spirits considering the situation and also within that there were also some harsh reminders to ourselves that if we fall below the standards we set then we can quite easily lose games," added Pressley.

"So there was a lot to learn from the game and although we came out of it relatively unscathed there were some good lessons for us."

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Dundee manager Steven Pressley has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premiership trip to leaders Hearts.

Here are the key lines:

• Pressley says the dramatic late comeback for a 2-2 derby draw with United demonstrates "that grit and determination" his side have been showing and continues their "feelgood factor" with a five-game unbeaten run.

• But there was "a lot to learn" and "lessons" to take from the game about what can happen when performance levels dip.

• Pressley says it will take "our best performance of the season" to beat Hearts in Gorgie.

• Asked if they can become the first team to win at Tynecastle this term, he says Dundee "embrace challenges and adversity" but reiterated the level of performance required.

• The former Tynecastle skipper rejects the notion all the pressure is on Hearts in the title race, saying: "Having played at Hearts I understand the club. There's always an expectation there and they've done so well this season but I think a lot of people externally think that probably Rangers or Celtic will just nick it."

• Despite Dundee's improving form their priority remains securing survival. "History tells you around a point per game will guarantee you safety," says Pressley. "We're only on 32, we need to at least reach 38. So we know that minimum we need another couple of wins and we want to do that as quickly as possible."

• The Dark Blues have "virtually a full squad" for Tynecastle. A bounce game against Carlisle allowed game-time for players such as Clark Robertson, Billy Koumetio and Scott Wright as they chase full fitness.

Ethan Hampton
Fan writer

The performance on Sunday was a massive letdown considering how good Dundee looked in recent weeks.

We were incredibly casual, devoid of ideas and well below the standard of previous performances.

I can't figure out why Dundee looked a lifeless husk of their former selves. If it wasn't for Jon McCracken's superb display we could have had the stuffing knocked out of us early on.

Dundee United to their credit were sharp, up for the battle and the occasion. They pressed well and suffocated Dundee in spells - on any other day they had done enough to claim all three points.

If there is anything worth praising Dundee for, it is their character. Dead and buried with two minutes to go and they remained tenacious to claw back a point.

This sums up Steven Pressley's Dundee. Several times this season we have had to fight from behind to secure results and persevere in adversity.

Several players were off the boil, but the substitutes again made a positive impact. Both goals stemmed from the sublime set-piece deliveries of Finlay Robertson, who used a different foot for each, causing chaos for United to deal with.

The penalty decision is a complete mess. It's such a weak threshold to determine a handball and one the referee and VAR failed to be consistent with, as Sportscene highlighted a missed handball in plain sight in the first half.

We will likely get another derby this season to settle the score in the split. Until then we can't drop our performance levels like that again as we're soon facing better opposition who will not lack killer instinct.

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Dundee striker Ashley Hay says he was "manifesting" scoring in the derby.

The striker came off the bench to help mount an unlikely comeback from two down at Dens Park on Sunday, netting in the 94th minute before Ross Graham's own goal secured a point.

"I'm very grateful for God, I was dreaming and manifesting this thinking exactly how it would go," said 22-year-old Hay.

"It didn't go exactly how I thought it would, but I was very grateful to get a goal and get the point in the end.

"We've got a good mentality at the moment. We're just not giving up no matter what.

"One of the boys said to me at 80 minutes, just keep on going, keep bringing the energy.

"Then once we get the first goal, the momentum is on our side and the fans got behind us. We got a bit fortunate with the second one, but we deserved it."

Steven Pressley's side visit leaders Hearts on Saturday and Hay added: "Anything can happen. I think the gaffer said we're five games unbeaten at the moment, so we're in a good run of form again and the boys are excited for it."