Dundee 2 St Mirren 1: McAlister goal breathes life into Brown's boys

Graeme Macpherson

Football Writer

Thursday 7 March 2013

DUNDEE sacked Barry Smith and brought in John Brown in the hope that it could give the whole place a much-needed lift.

Jim McAlister scores to give Dundee their first league win since November. Picture: SNS

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Graeme Macpherson

Last night, at the third time of asking, they finally got the Bomber Bounce.

Needing a win to have any chance of rescuing a wretched season, Dundee managed to somehow dig one out. This was their first league victory since November 17 and shrinks the gap between them and last night's vanquished opposition to 14 points with 10 games of the campaign remaining. It now gives St Mirren something other than just a cup final to think about over the next week and a half.

In typical Dundee fashion it was done the hard way. So dominant were St Mirren in the first half they should have been three or four goals to the good. That they managed only one, through Dougie Imrie, would come back to haunt them. Brown threw on Nicky Riley and Ryan Conroy at half-time, perhaps sensing there was nothing to lose, and Dundee gradually clawed their way into contention. With Gary Harkins leading the revival with some exquisite midfield play, Dundee drew level through John Baird and then fashioned a winning goal from Jim McAlister with 12 minutes to go. A crowd of only 3674, Dens Park's lowest gate of the season by more than 1000, watched it all unfold, although they might now get a few more through the gates when Inverness Caledonian Thistle are in town this weekend."We are still in the Premier League until someone tells us otherwise and we will fight until the last minute of the last game," said Brown. "I know there is still a big gulf, but it asks a question or two of the teams above us. I didn't realise they had not won since November but you wouldn't think it after that second-half performance."In contrast, this was a fairly disastrous evening for St Mirren. Danny Lennon, their manager, had made five changes to rest some of his regular players, presumably with next weekend's Scottish Communities League Cup final in mind. It was a bold move but one that ultimately backfired. With the team trailing late in the game, Lennon had no choice but to throw on substitutes Steven Thompson, Esmael Goncalves and Paul Dummett to try to rescue a point, thus rendering the whole exercise of rotating the squad meaningless. So dominant were St Mirren in the first half that their second-half capitulation, when they completely fell out of the game, came as something as a surprise. "It was real Jekyll and Hyde stuff," sighed the manager. "We couldn't have got off to a better start.We freshened things up and everything was going to plan, apart from the end product. Did we think it was job done and we downed tools? It certainly looked that way. The worse thing is that the defeat probably puts paid to our top-six hopes."Imrie was a constant menace down the left wing in the first half, scoring what turned out to be St Mirren's only goal of the game. Lewis Guy was the supplier, touching a pass inside for the forward to control on his chest and thump into the far corner. At that point it seemed it was a question of how many St Mirren would win by. Instead, it became a tale of missed chances. Sam Parkin was another who saw plenty of the ball but couldn't embroider his performance with a goal. It was not for the lack of trying. An early header was hoofed off the line by Gary Irvine, while a later goalbound effort was well saved by Rab Douglas. In between, Parkin created chances for Guy, who was denied by Douglas, and Paul McGowan, who lofted a shot over the crossbar.Dundee had first-half chances of their own, most notably revolving around the impressive Harkins. Irvine blazed a decent opportunity so high over the crossbar that it was a threat to passing aircraft, Harkins shot wide and Iain Davidson did similarly not long after.It was in the second half, however, that Dundee finally shone. Baird, the former St Mirren player, gave them a lifeline with a low shot past Craig Samson and then came the winning goal. Harkins shimmied past a couple of half-hearted tackles to cross for Riley whose cutback was thundered past Samson by McAlister. There may be life in this Dundee team yet.

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Dundee 2 St Mirren 1: McAlister goal breathes life into Brown's boys

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