SPFL Championship
Raith Rovers 0
Dundee 0
Admission £17, Programme £2, Attendance 2,603
Raith Rovers v Dundee photographs
Left click pictures for enlarged versions
McGurn, Thomson, Booth, P Watson, Hill, Vaughan, Cardle, Moon, Smith, Elliot, Anderson.
Subs - Callachan, Donaldson, Ellis, Murray, J Watson, Matthews, Roberts
Dundee
Letheren, Irvine, Lockwood, Dyer, McBride, Conroy, MacDonald, Monti, Gallagher, McAlister, Rae.
Subs - Doris, Thomson, Reid, Boyle, Kerr, Carberry, Twardzik
Arriving in the Lang Toun (Long Town) was an experience akin to being tele-ported back to the 1960's all over again... and so was the irresistibly singalong-esque tune-age booming out of my automobile's sound system.
"I've got flowers and lots of hours to spend with you... so go and powder your cute little pussycat nose".
In fact, as lacklustre nil-nil draws go this one was, err, soulless and goalless.
I hadn't realised that Gavin Rae was playing for Dundee (again) until today. He must have one of those train passes that allows him to travel to other clubs as often as he wants, on the proviso that he returns to Dens Park on a regular basis.
A draw was a fair result all told, because although Dundee had slightly the better of things during the first half, Rovers picked their game up ever so slightly after the break.
It's not as though there was any shortage of graft and endeavour on display, but both teams downfall this afternoon was a distinct lack of quality in the final third.
Although as I'm sure the navy blue half of the city of Dundee would testify, the match referee Joe Beaton also had quite a big say in the final outcome of the game too.
Hmm, it might well have been for the fans of both sides who were willing their respective teams to break the deadlock, in a game that could have gone either way right until the very end.
But, for this neutral onlooker, it was more a case of wishful thinking that one side, any side, would stop buggering about so much in front of goal and find a way through, just to open the game up a bit.
Possibly, my purported 'talent' of selecting evenly matched games to attend on my travels, struck gold again today, proving what a shrewd judge of proportion and balance I am, as two very similar sides cancelled each other out for lengthy spells of the game.
I recall this happened once before when I went to watch Arsenal v Ajax, the two form teams in Europe at the time, play out a really dull game where they simply suffocated each other's usual flow and rhythm out all over the Highbury pitch, so at least the Rovers and the Dark Blues are in esteemed company to that end.
Well, a certain Scottish Sunday newspaper with a fairly large circulation is giving him 5 out of 10 for his display today.
I'm assuming they give officials at least 4 for merely turning up in the right kit and remembering to bring a whistle with them. And possibly award an extra mark for providing some kind of comedy value. Not that the Dundee manager John Brown had very much to laugh about.
I'm not usually one to criticise referees, because there would be no game without them and I'd like to think that they all have a far better understanding and appreciation of the rules of the game than I ever will.
But Mr Beaton, this afternoon had, what could politely be called 'a bad (and mistake laden) day at the office'.
If a player had put in such a substandard performance of this ilk, he would have been substituted and dropped into the stiffs until he regained his form and focus again, But as it was, both benches, two teams and all 2,603 spectators were stuck with a misfiring match official for the duration.
Raith Rovers had three former Hearts players in their starting eleven today, namely Calum Elliot, Gordon Smith and Jason Thomson.
Never let it be said that the ex Jambos striker Calum Elliot isn't a threat in the goal area.
The problem with that analogy is, he was playing in a defensive midfield role for the home side today and threatened to give Dundee an advantage in the 35th minute, when he blatantly shoved the Dees' striker Peter MacDonald to the ground in the Rovers own eighteen yard box.
It was as blatant and easy a penalty decision to make as you'll ever see... and even the Rovers supporters sat around us in the South Stand at 'San Starko' collectively shook their heads and tutted in disbelief, as Beaton was unmoved by the vociferous appeals for a spot kick from the Dundee players.
Less than a minute later, Declan Gallagher appeared to have put the visitors ahead at the back stick when he towered over the Rovers defence to head home Jamie McCallister's left wing corner, but the goal was ruled out. I'm not aware that being able to jump higher than the goalkeeper and the last defender is actually an offence, but hey! What do I know?
Apparently Gallagher was adjudged to have been climbing on a defender... even though none of the hosts sides back-line had got anywhere near him.
Amazingly however, sections of the home support started to vent a lot of angry and frustrated abuse towards Mr Beaton, every time a 50/50 decision went against them. Which would also suggest that a lot of them couldn't have seen his display in the first half, when he'd all but played as a twelfth man for the Rovers.
"Jesus you guys, give him a break, he's kept you in the game up until now", I thought about standing up and shouting. But I figured that I really needed to get back to Edinburgh after the game in one piece, to meet up with some old mates for a couple of hours before picking up my family from outside the zoo, assuming the keepers there hadn't found suitable cages for them yet, so I kept schtum.
With the home side pushing forward more now, Dundee appeared to have caught them flat-footed at the other end on the counter attack, but David McBurn pulled off a sublime double save from Declan Gallagher to keep the scores level.
Both sides had further attempts on goal as as the game petered out towards its 'climax', but a lack of clear cut chances and some woeful finishing, combined with David McBurn's prowess and John Beaton's reluctance to let the visitors score, meant that both sides shared a point apiece.
Outside the ground, the Raith fans seemed fairly content with the draw, but then they probably knew that if they hadn't of had the rub of the green with the decisions that mattered, it would've been a much different story.
I think the postscript by the reporter who covered the game for Dundee sums things up fairly well: "Dundee looked more comfortable playing a 4-4-2 formation, but the supporters don't want to see a comfortable team. They want a hungry, dangerous team that always looks capable of grabbing a goal. Sadly we're still some way short of that".
FT: Raith Rovers 0 v Dundee 0
Joking aside, 'twas the kind of game that'll get nil-nil draws a bad name.
As I pulled into a lay-by on my way out of Kirkcaldy, to phone the result from Harworth Colliery's game in to the CMFL (thanks for the details Paul Latham), I got a panoramic photo-opportunity of the south end of the ground to finish off my visit to Stark's Park.
The South Stand and McDermid Stand (away end) which is sponsored by the Scottish crime writer Val McDermid, stand symmetrically identical at either end of the ground. A full length (unused) terrace runs down the full length of the pitch along one side, but 'San Starko's' jewel in the crown, is the L shaped main stand on the east side that sits geometrically at odds with the rest of the ground.
This eye catching construction was built in 1925, having been designed by the renowned football ground architect Archibald Leitch, a lot of the money that was used to finance it's construction was raised from the transfer of Alex James from Rovers to Preston North End. Apparently, this is where the former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown sits when he watches Rovers play... so now you know.
