THERE are few positives to take from this affair for the Kilmarnock manager, Gary Locke. The only one, really, is that Dundee did not make it into double figures in terms of goals.
This is no attempt to be glib or dismissive. The difference between these two sides really was so alarming that the scoreline could have been considerably worse.
Dundee, first and foremost, were excellent. There are very good reasons why Greg Stewart made the shortlist for the PFA Scotland Player of the Year award last season and the evidence on display at Rugby Park suggests he is only going to improve.
His was one of many fine displays for the visitors. He opened the scoring in the 34th minute of a spectacularly one-sided opening period, helped Rory Loy to score his brace either side of the break and then wrapped up the scoring with 12 minutes to play.
Were it not for their goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald and some dreadful profligacy from Dundee’s other striker Kane Hemmings, the degree of Killie’s defeat would have been truly humiliating.
It was bad enough as it was. They created next to nothing all afternoon. A weak header from Kris Boyd, every bit as ineffective as he was at Rangers last year, on 72 minutes represented their first attempt at goal.
There was little invention in their play, little sign of structure or philosophy. Stewart terrorised them in his advanced role with Kevin Thomson, Nick Ross and Gary Harkins dominating in midfield from the first whistle.
Their supporters appear to harbour a similar sense of foreboding. Locke is already under pressure. He was roundly abused throughout, jeered at half-time and again at the end.
Locke fielded six new faces in this encounter. Outwith MacDonald, they were all completely anonymous. His signing strategy, which centred around handing lengthy contracts to ageing players limping out of Rangers’ worst season in history, is under the microscope.
“There are no excuses at all,” he said. “We were poor. I didn’t see that coming as I thought pre-season had gone well, but we were second best everywhere. We never got close to them and their flair players got on the ball all day long without any pressure on them. We can only apologise to the fans. It is only one game, but it was a disaster for us.”
Stewart was at the centre of everything good for the visitors, spraying passes cross-field, linking up play and always appearing a goal threat.
The inevitable opener for Dundee would arrive 13 minutes before the interval. Given the quality of his performance, there seemed a certain justice in the fact it came from the left boot of Stewart.
Paul McGinn played a ball inside to him from the right flank, he took a touch more than 20 yards from goal and picked his spot before curling a beautiful effort high past MacDonald.
With the first half having entered stoppage time, Loy made it two. Kevin Holt played a dangerous, low cross in from the left and the former Falkirk forward got in front of his man to produce the most delicate of first-time finishes.
Within one minute and 38 seconds of the restart, Locke’s team went three goals behind. After another clever passing move, Harkins poked the ball into the centre of the area from the left side and Loy sprung higher than anyone to provide the final touch.
Loy then turned provider to let Stewart put the icing on the cake. He played a short pass to the midfielder, who showed quick feet to move the ball onto his left and fire past MacDonald inside the area.
“We dominated the match from start to finish and I thought some of the play was outstanding,” said Paul Hartley, the Dundee manager. “We have been working on movement, combinations and speed and enjoyed being on the ball. We are going to be expansive and let the players express themselves.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel