Dundee Football Club Season 1961-1962
Championship season
Game Five.
Saturday 30th September 1961
Just too easy for Dundee
THIRD LANARK 1, DUNDEE 3
It’s a warm, sunny afternoon at Cathkin Park. Ure is declared fit for Dundee and both teams are at full strength, Hilley and Goodfellow being back on the Hi-Hi’s right wing.
Third Lanark --- Robertson, McGillvray, Lewis, Reilly, McCormack, Cunningham,
Goodfellow, Hilley, Harley, Gray, McInnes.
Dundee --- Liney, Hamilton, Cox, Seith Ure, Wishart, Smith, Penman, Cousin,
Gilzean, Robertson.
Referee --- W L Fyfe, Edinburgh.
Thirds kick off with the sun on their backs, and it’s Jocky Robertson, recovered from flu, who is first in action when he saves a softish long – range shot from Gilzean. Passes from both teams are going astray – maybe it’s because of the stiffish breeze.
Offside trap
Thirds are potentially dangerous down the right wing. Goodfellow chip’s over the bar and blonde Ure is in command in the middle. Harley sends Goodfellow away, but the shot goes past the post. The whistle goes. It looks like an offside decision as well.
Dundee spring the offside trap again. This time Harley is the victim and Third’s are upset about it. A tame game so far. Ten minutes gone and Penman receives a Smith pass. The ball strikes Cunningham and scrapes the wrong side of the post. Both sets of forwards are off the target. Smith balloons over for the Dark Blues and Harley does the same at the opposite end.
Hilley is off down the right. His pass goes to Harley who sends the ball across goal. Hamilton hooks it off the well placed boot of Goodfellow. The Dundee attack looks disjointed. Penman finds himself out on his own. He attempts a cross field pass and finds a red shirted defender.
The fans are getting annoyed and no wonder! It’s an inept display. But a spark of life glimmers in the 23rd minute. Robertson crosses to Penman who meets it first time. The ball hits the bar and rebounds to the line. Jocky Robertson makes a desperate effort to save the situation and gets the ball. It looks from the press box as if the ball had already crossed the line, but a well placed linesman says "No."
Two minutes later, after Robertson saves another Penman shot, GILZEAN scores from a Cousin header. That goal riles the Hi-Hi. A Goodfellow shot skims the Dundee goal, but there are no takers. Liney saves wonderfully well from McInnes and minutes later Goodfellow stages a repeat performance, but once again none of his colleagues are up. Thirds are missing chances. The Dark Blue’s defence is being kept busy, but rarely troubled.
Third’s get an indirect free kick inside their "box" and coming from it Cunningham blazes over. Third’s close passing isn’t paying off. The red shirted home team badly needed a man with a shot and creative ability. With monotonous regularity Liney sees the ball flash over his head and the bar.
Half time – Third Lanark 0, Dundee 1.
Reflections --- Not a great game, with Dundee just deserving the lead. Apart from the goal lead that was and the one that might have been, there has been little real excitement for the 9000 fans. Too much midfield play, with the defence on top. Dundee’s forwards lack cohesion.
Second Half
It’s still unplanned kick - and hope for the best football – from both sides. Goodfellow cuts in and passes to Hilley out on the right wing. He beats Ure and stumbles as if fouled. But Mr. Fyfe plays on. Gilzean square passes to Cousin, but the centre’s shot is off the target.
Thirds get a free kick. Cunningham lofts the ball into the goalmouth. There’s a scramble and Hamilton heads clear. The home team is getting the shots in on goal, but there speculative and not dangerous. Not that Dundee are much better, Gilzean has a chance but trundles the ball along the ground to the keeper.
Number Two
Another spark of life in the 60th minute and Dundee go farther ahead. It comes from one of the rare moves with thought behind it. Robertson is the instigator, but it is COUSIN who heads home from a Gilzean cross. Hugh is Dundee’s most persistent trier.
Liney is having an easy passage as he calmly collects A Gray header. Robertson dashes in to fire in a shot which stretches his namesake full length. It’s sparks like that which prevent the fans from going asleep. It’s anything but First Division stuff.
Constant threat
Robertson is a constant threat to Thirds. Gilzean sees Jocky Robertson fail to clasp his shot, but he is too slow to follow up the advantage. The Hi-Hi’s defence is in tatters. But 12 minutes from the end Thirds gain a consolation goal when Liney softly palms out a Hilley shot. The ball breaks to McInnes and Joe makes no mistake.
Six minutes later, Cousin crosses from the right and GILZEAN scores.
Full Time --- Third Lanark 1. Dundee 3.
Summing up --- Dundee won convincingly, but it was a poor game. The Dark Blues were mediocre --- Thirds were very poor. It was a long drawn out 90 minutes with spells of inactivity. Dundee’s forwards lacked support. Only Ure and Robertson came out of the game with anything resembling honours.