Dundee’s disappointing start to their Premiership campaign continued as they went down to Hamilton Accies at New Douglas Park.
It leaves them without a single point from their first two league outings, having gone down at home to Ross County in the opener a week ago.
And they had only themselves to blame for this defeat, squandering two great early chances and missing a late penalty.
The Dark Blues showed a couple of changes from the side that beat neighbours Dundee United in the Betfred Cup on Wednesday. Roarie Deacon, one of the star men from the derby, dropped out through injury, so Randy Wolters came in on the right flank. And skipper Darren O’Dea returned from his cup ban in place of young centre-half Kerr Waddell.
Accies almost made the perfect start when, in just the second minute, Ioannis Skondras crossed from their right and when Ali Crawford headed the ball on Steven Boyd volleyed over from 14 yards.
A minute or so later it was the Dee who missed an even better opportunity. Scott Allan raced clear and instead of shooting, squared the ball to Marcus Haber. He was tackled as he tried to get a shot away and when the ball broke ball to Allan he saw his effort saved by Gary Woods.
The game was only five minutes old, but the incredible misses continued as Faissal El Bakhtaoui saw a shot blocked by Woods and then sent the rebound crashing off the bar. He had a third go, but sliced that effort wide.
Things settled down for a while after that before Accies had another chance to shoot after El Bakhtaoui fouled Darian MacKinnon 25 yards from the Dundee goal. Crawford had a go from the free kick, but Scott Bain was equal to the task, saving comfortably to his right.
In the 25th minute the home team were ahead. A Crawford corner was cleared only as far as the edge of the area where MacKinnon shot first time. His low effort was by no means a rocket, but it came through a ruck of bodies and nestled right in the corner of the net, giving Bain no chance.
Dundee were dealt another blow on the half hour mark when Wolters picked up a knock and limped off to be replaced by Danny Williams.
Neil McCann’s team were fighting to get back in the game and when Jack Hendry fed Cammy Kerr on the right, his dangerous cross was headed clear just before it reached Haber right in front of goal.
Just under ten minutes from the break Dundee were really up against it as they went two down. A long ball forward from MacKinnon reached Boyd and with Bain coming from his line the midfielder cleverly lobbed the ball over the goalie and into the back of the net from around 25 yards out.
Dundee had paid a big price for those missed opportunities and were now up against and Accies team brimming with confidence.
In first half injury time Dundee missed a chance to get back in the game when Haber headed straight at Woods from an Allan corner.
The visitors’ troubles continued early in the second half when Darren O’Dea, who’d needed treatment just before the break, had to be replaced by Kerr Waddell.
Dundee were struggling to make any impact this half. They did forced a corner on the right and Williams got his head to Allan’s kick, but the home defence cleared easily.
Hamilton came close to stretching their lead when a Crawford corner reached the unmarked Scott McMann near the edge of the penalty area. His first time shot was net bound until Cammy Kerr made and important block.
At the other end El Bakhtaoui had a go from distance, but although the shot had Woods scrambling along his line, the ball flashed wide of his left post. They were at least trying to get a goal back and next Williams saw a shot well saved by Woods.
When El Bakhtaoui set up Allan for a shot with a neat pass from the right, Dundee were denied by a good block by McMann.
A miserable afternoon was almost complete when Dundee won a penalty after Skondras fouled Williams. Allan stepped up to take the kick and sent it high over the bar. The frustration wasn’t quite over and when El Bakhtaoui raced clear he wasted the chance by shooting straight at Woods.
With six minutes to go there was a penalty at the other end as Kevin Holt brought down David Templeton. Dougie Imrie stepped up to take the kick and showed how it should be done _ blasting the ball past Bain and into the net for goal number three.
That did complete a poor day for McCann’s men.
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