Dundee 2-3 Aberdeen | Scottish Premiership match report
A header from the former Dundee United favourite David Goodwillie consigned Dundee to a narow defeat to Aberdeen and a fourth straight loss in the Scottish Premiership.
Aberdeen made up for throwing away full points in their midweek 2-2 draw with St Mirren by coming out on top of this entertaining five-goal encounter on Tayside.
Andrew Considine headed the visitors into an early lead which was immediately cancelled out by Gary Harkins, before an own goal from the Dundee defender James McPake put the visitors back in front before the half-hour mark. David Clarkson’s penalty early in the second half restored parity, before Goodwillie nodded home the winner in the 63rd minute to leave Derek McInnes’s side unbeaten in five games.
Considine had made an immediate impact by heading the visitors in front. Goodwillie made space for himself wide on the right before digging out a cross which eluded the entire Dundee defence. It found Considine who was free to send a downward header crisply into the corner of the Dundee keeper Kyle Letheren’s net from 12 yards. But the home team hit back a spectacular equalising goal a minute later. Harkins picked up possession 25 yards from goal as the opposition backed off, expecting him to slide a pass to a nearby team-mate.
Instead, the midfielder took a touch and let fly and did so in such style that his bullet effort nestled in Jamie Langfield’s bottom corner before the Aberdeen keeper could do anything about it. His fellow midfielder Paul McGowan tried his luck from distance after going on a mazy run, but his effort was not as precise and ended up clearing the crossbar by a few inches.
Then, on 18 minutes, the home team mounted another attack when the full-back Paul McGinn sent over a tempting cross into the heart of the Aberdeen defence, where Clarkson rose for Dundee only to see his header go over the target.
Yet, despite their best efforts to get in front, the hosts found themselves trailing again in 28 minutes. Niall McGinn’s swerving cross caught the Dundee defence in no-man’s land and Aberdeen’s Shay Logan put pressure on McPake. The latter’s natural inclination was to turn the ball out for a corner, but in trying to clear his lines he succeeded only in nodding into his own net past Letheren’s despairing dive. It was tough on the Taysiders but they almost responded instantly with a Harkins measured pass releasing Clarkson and the former Motherwell and Bristol Rovers man saw his left-foot shot cannon off Langfield’s post, before being cleared to safety.
The second half also began at a whirlwind pace and by 54 minutes Dundee were back on level terms. Kevin McBride’s dinked ball into the box bounced to hit Ash Taylor on the hand, prompting referee Willie Collum to point to the spot. Clarkson made it 2-2 by drilling the ball high into the net.
But they fell behind for a third time on 63 minutes in simple fashion, with Goodwillie having all the time in the world to plant a header into Letheren’s far corner from Logan’s cross as the Dundee defence critically switched off.
From that point on Aberdeen were content to see things out and, no matter how hard they pressed, Dundee found them a tough nut to crack, even with teenage striker Craig Wighton being unleashed late on as they were denied a morale-boosting win going into the international break.