Dundee turned the tables on Kilmarnock at Dens Park with an incredible comeback at Dens Park.
The 3-2 stoppage time win came just a month after Killie themselves had come from two down to win 3-2 in stoppage time.
This time it was the Dark Blues earning a much-needed victory.
At one point in the game Tony Docherty’s side were heading for the bottom of the table, instead they sit back in the top six after a day of drama at Dens.
Courier Sport was there to drink it all in.
Dee v Killie = goals and madness
Since Tony Docherty left Rugby Park for Dens Park, this fixture has been the craziest in the Premiership.
This season has already seen two comeback victories settled by stoppage time winners, both ending 3-2.
Last season all five league fixtures ended in draws, three of them 2-2.
Zak Rudden scored a stoppage time equaliser in the first one, then Killie thought they’d scored a late winner after 90 minutes at Rugby Park only for Joe Shaughnessy to score even later.
After that came the only relatively normal one, a 2-0 Scottish Cup win for Derek McInnes’ side.
Then Robbie Deas scored in injury time in March to equalise for 10-man Killie before Luke McCowan missed a penalty to win it on 88 minutes in the final match of last season.
In the seven meetings between master McInnes and former apprentice Docherty there have been 26 goals and four red cards.
Only once have Killie failed to score at least two, just twice for the Dee.
The good news is there’s another edition of this series coming up at the end of the month.
Changes
Docherty changed both personnel and system for this one and his alterations paid off.
Instead of the 3-5-2 setup they’ve used most of the season, the Dens boss tweaked it into a 3-4-3 with Seun Adewumi and Seb Palmer-Houlden tasked with supporting central striker Simon Murray.
Those two came into the side and made a real difference. Each had a hand in the first two goals, Adewumi crossing for the striker to finish the first and then a repeat show before the ball fell for Jordan McGhee to equalise.
Adewumi showed real quality and it was a shame to see him limp off while Palmer-Houlden brings such powerful running.
Half-time subs worked a treat, too. McGhee has been a big miss since being injured at Rangers in September.
Ethan Ingram has a real future ahead of him but was beaten in the air again in his own area for Killie’s second goal.
He’s learning on the job and it’s been a steep learning curve.
McGhee, though, is an experienced member of this squad and has an uncanny knack of coming up with big goals – he now has seven in 2024.
Josh Mulligan has struggled to nail down a starting spot in recent weeks but his match-winning assist will help in that regard.
Classic Mulligan, turning into space, powerful running and there was composure at the end to find Larkeche.
Jon McCracken
Dundee’s goalkeeper copped some flak for the last clash with Kilmarnock after letting one slip under his arm to kick off the Killie comeback in October.
And there was a whole lot more flying his way after this absolute howler in the first half.
There’s no place to hide for a goalkeeper in this situation but his team-mates got McCracken out of a hole.
How he responds to this will be the measure of the man.
Ziyad Larkeche
Owen Beck left some big boots to fill in that left wing-back slot at Dens Park. Big, big boots.
Fans at Dens, though, are beginning to say ‘Owen who?’
QPR loanee Larkeche has steadily made himself invaluable to this team and seems to get better week by week.
His running is relentless, he’s got skills to beat a man and he’s now showing off his finishing ability.
Larkeche has three goals in his last nine games and hasn’t been far away from grabbing more.
Impressively he’s now level with Simon Murray at the top of Dundee’s league scoring chart
He still needs to sharpen up a little defensively but Dundee have picked out another loan star.
Relief and ecstasy rolled into one
This was a massive moment for Dundee and manager Docherty.
Grumbles in the stands have been growing louder and it looked like the Dark Blues were heading for a seventh defeat in eight games, a run of one win in 10.
And as the score at Dens was 2-0 to Killie, Hibs being 1-0 up against Dundee United meant the as-it-stands table had Dundee bottom of the pile.
Instead they now have two wins in four and have shot up into the top six again.
The margins in this season’s Scottish Premiership are as slim as ever.
The key now for Dundee is to build on this win. They still need to cut out daft defensive errors but being able to string some results together will see them fly up that table.
Julien Vetro
Thankfully the most worrying part of the day ended on a positive note.
Just over a month since Mo Sylla collapsed in the dressing-room at half-time against Aberdeen, one of his closest colleagues had a similar episode.
Julien Vetro hasn’t had too many opportunities on the pitch since signing on loan from Burnley.
However, seeing another team-mate collapse in the same place just a few weeks later must have been so difficult for the Dundee players.
Full credit to them for putting on such a rousing comeback.
And thankfully Vetro was back from hospital in time to celebrate with his team-mates after a momentous victory.
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