Dundee are gearing up for the unusual prospect of playing two ‘home’ games 26 miles away from Dens Park.
With the pitch not quite ready for the hustle and bustle of competitive football, the Dark Blues are heading to Brechin to complete their Premier Sports Cup group fixtures.
Two victories will guarantee progress to the knockout stages.
It is not the first time Dundee have played a ‘home’ game at a different stadium, however.
Back in 1999 Dens Park was undergoing a major facelift with the Bob Shankly and Bobby Cox Stands being erected at each end.
The work had to be done quickly to meet new league regulations that required each top-flight stadium to have a minimum number of seats for the following campaign.
So home matches towards the end of 1998/99 were played at reduced capacity.
However, an April visit from Dick Advocaat’s title-chasing Rangers promised a big payday. To avoid missing out on that the two sides faced off across the road at Tannadice instead.
It ended 1-1 with Iain Anderson’s header cancelled out by a Tony Vidmar goal.
Dundee fans threatened a boycott but Tannadice was a happy hunting ground in those days.
Back in 2021, Steven Boyack told Courier Sport: “We beat United at Tannadice a couple of weeks later – we thought it was a great place to play!”
Instead of Tannadice, though, Glebe Park will be Dundee’s ‘home’ venue to face Annan Athletic and Inverness Caledonian Thistle with Dens out of action.
So how homely is ‘the Glebe’ for the Dark Blues? Courier Sport takes a look.
Hedging bets?
To spoil the surprise, Dundee’s record in competitive matches at Brechin is good – going back over eight decades unbeaten.
That is if you don’t include penalty shootouts.
The Dark Blues have been the away team against Brechin City seven times across their history and scored 24 times in the process, including a 9-2 Scottish Cup win in 1964.
That has seen five victories, one draw and just one defeat with the two clubs sharing the same division on only two occasions.
Both seasons were in the old First Division (now the Championship) where Dundee scored three times on each visit, winning all three.
The last competitive meeting, however, ended in a draw – and a defeat on penalties.
A quickfire double from Rory McAllister for Brechin brought a quickfire double in response from Leigh Griffiths in a League Cup second-round tie. Griffiths would later miss a penalty to win the game.
And further spot-kick heartbreak would follow with the Hedgemen winning 3-1 on penalties to pull off a shock.
Away from penalties, to find Dundee’s only competitive defeat at Glebe Park you have to go all the way back to 1939.
Brechin were 2-1 winners in front of 1,500 people with Charlie McGillivray on target for the Dee – one of 29 goals in 26 league games he managed that season.
The Dark Blues finished sixth with Brechin coming 10th.
Annan and Inverness
Dundee’s records against their actual opponents this week differ completely – one is a 100% record, the other far worse.
Only once have Dundee faced Annan in a competitive meeting – a 3-0 Challenge Cup semi-final win for the Dark Blues back in 2009.
Sean Higgins, Pat Clarke and Craig Forsyth got the goals to send Jocky Scott’s Dee to the final which they won against Saturday’s opponents Inverness.
Dundee’s record against Caley Thistle, meanwhile, is not great. And it’s even worse when the game isn’t played at Dens Park.
Overall the Dee have only registered 10 wins in 42 matches against the Highland outfit. Six of those were at Dens while they’ve picked up just two wins away from their home ground.
One of those came two years ago thanks to a Paul McMullan winner, the other was a Scottish Cup replay where Scott Allan scored the only goal of the game in his final Dundee appearance.
But it is slim pickings away from Dens Park.
This clash, though, won’t take place in the faraway Highlands with Dundee big favourites to tilt the balance of 14 ICT wins back towards parity.
Glebe Park has been a happy hunting ground for the Dark Blues – can they continue that this week on ‘home’ turf?
Conversation