Dundee must be the world’s most consistently inconsistent team.
How can the same group of players be solid in defence one game and then absolutely dreadful the next?
That’s what’s happened in the last two fixtures – a good, solid clean sheet at Hamilton followed by the flakiest of defeats at Cove Rangers.
To add salt to the wound, Jim McIntyre was the man dishing out the defeat from the home dugout, too.
This same Dundee defence we saw wilt under pressure from last season’s League One champions have kept six clean sheets in their last 10 games.
It’s just so difficult to fathom.
Again and again and again
But it all comes down to mentality.
And it’s a problem we have seen surface again and again and again over the past few seasons.
When things are going well, Dundee are great.
Popping the ball around for fun, taking men on and creating chances.
They don’t score many of them, to be fair, but that’s a side issue.
But when things go against them, they look like conceding at every turn.
McGhee mistakes
Jordan McGhee had the armband at the Balmoral last night but must bear the brunt of the criticism.
His manager may not have named him but he called out two crucial moments in the game when dissecting the defending and decision-making from his team.
First, a very strange defensive header from a Cove Rangers free-kick.
Usually a defender would head out but McGhee headed wide instead.
Cove took full advantage as the ball was put back across goal and ended up in the corner.
In the second half McGhee did really well as he strode forward, bearing down on the Cove box.
But his conviction disappeared in the important moment.
The chance was there to shoot but he chose to pass and put the ball behind his target, setting their opponents off on the counter-attack.
From there Dundee are scrambling and never regain any sort of control before Connor Scully unleashed a fabulous finish.
He topped that just four minutes later with an overhead kick with the Dundee defence dazed and confused.
With that, the game and the points were gone.
Mercy of Partick Thistle
A fourth league defeat in just nine games, the Dark Blues are now at the mercy of Partick Thistle as they sit four points behind the Jags having played a game more.
It’s early to be making any sort of predictions.
However, that is not a good position to be in, by any means.
With Thistle playing on Friday at Inverness, Dundee could be seven points behind by the time they line up at Arbroath.
Whatever the result in the Highlands, the Dark Blues just can’t afford to drop any more points this week.
What should have been the time for Dundee to kick into gear has turned into the same old story.
Disappointment.
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