Dundee

Andrew Petrie
BBC Sport Scotland

If you told Tony Docherty where his team would finish at the start of the season, he's have absolutely snapped your hand off.

A sixth-placed finish signalled their best league position since 2015, and they did so with a ropey defence and no clear goalscorer.

They also didn't win in the final eight Premiership games, and conceded more goals than every team other than Livingston. If they can solidify that, they'll be in a decent position again next season.

The other task will be keeping hold of Luke McCowan and Lyall Cameron, their two best creators who got them into the top six.

Dundee XI: McCracken, Mulligan, McGhee, Portales, Donnelly, Dodgson, Sylla, McCowan, Cameron, Tiffoney, Bakayoko.

Substitutes: Sharp, Astley, Main, Robinson, Robertson, Howley, Boateng, Mellon, Costelloe.

Kilmarnock XI: O'Hara, Wright, Deas, Findlay, Ndaba, Mackay-Steven, Donnelly, Polworth, McKenzie, Murray, Watkins.

Substitutes: Dennis, Vassell, Kennedy, Armstrong, Watson, Balagizi, Cameron, Stewart, Van Veen.

Image source, SNS

Tony Docherty hopes Dundee fans and players show "mutual appreciation" in their final game of the season against Kilmarnock.

The Dens Park side have enjoyed a successful first campaign back in the top flight, finishing in the top six after winning the Championship last year.

"When you look at our first game of the season against Bonnyrigg Rose, we've come a long way since that," Docherty said.

"It's been a season of real achievement and tomorrow is an opportunity to celebrate that with the fans.

"When I first came into the job, I wanted to have an identity for the team. I wanted to have a style of play. Particularly, I wanted to have something that created that synergy between the players and the fans.

"For me, the real satisfaction comes in seeing that relationship that we've built and hopefully it gives us a platform to build even further next year.

"From the start of the year, most of you guys [the media], it was written off that we were the team that were going to be relegated.

"That gave us huge motivation to do what we've done as a group. [Saturday] is an opportunity to celebrate that and hopefully there's a mutual appreciation between the fans and the players."

Image source, SNS

Dundee will spend a week in Polish city of Poznan as part of their pre-season preparations in July.

Tony Docherty's side will take part in two friendly matches, first against Czech outfit FC Banik Ostrava on Wednesday 3 July.

Three days later, the Dee will face eight-time champions of Poland, Lech Poznan.

The club also confirmed that fans will be able to take in the games, with ticketing information to be announced at a later date.

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• Dundee are winless in nine Scottish Premiership meetings with Kilmarnock (D6 L3), although the last four have all been 2-2 draws.

• All three league meetings between Dundee and Kilmarnock this season have been drawn; the last fixture to be drawn four times in a Scottish top-flight campaign was Dunfermline Athletic v Inverness Caledonian Thistle in 2011-12 (Motherwell v St Johnstone could also be drawn four times this season).

• Dundee have lost their final match in their last seven top-flight seasons since a 1-1 draw with Livingston to finish 2004-05. Their last final-day win in the top tier was in 2003-04 (2-1 v Aberdeen).

• Excluding the curtailed 2019-20 season, Kilmarnock have won their final match in their last four Scottish Premiership seasons, last failing to do so in 2016-17 (2-1 loss to Ross County).

• Dundee have lost all four of their Scottish Premiership games since the split. The last top-six side to lose all five of their matches in a top-flight season after the split were St Johnstone in 2011-12.

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Dundee have called an emergency general meeting on 3 June for a vote on a new share issue of up to £13m.

The Dens Park last month club posted a loss of £2.9m for the year up to May 2023 and said they expect a similar deficit this season despite having returned to the top flight.

Dundee, who in January struck a "talent and knowledge share" deal with Premier League club Burnley, hope to move to a yet-to-be-built new stadium at Camperdown Park by next year.

Dundee welcome Kilmarnock in their final Premiership match of the season with only pride to play for.

Is this a chance for Tony Docherty to experiment? Pick your XI here.

Dundee defender Jordan McGhee is determined to finish the season on a high with victory at home to Kilmarnock after four successive Scottish Premiership top-six defeats. (Courier - subscription), external

Read Thursday's Scottish gossip

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

The post-split fixtures were always likely to be difficult for Dundee.

Just a year ago they were playing in the Championship - so the prospect of a run of games against the other five top teams in the top division , while enticing, also looked like being a tough one.

And so it has transpired, with Dundee suffering defeats to both halves of the Old Firm, as well as to St Mirren and Hearts.

They round their campaign off at home to Kilmarnock on Saturday.

It is important to say that in no way should this run of results be allowed to overshadow what has been a fine campaign for Tony Docherty’s side.

Getting into the top six is a pretty serious achievement for a side who will have kicked off this term with the aim of simply surviving in the Premiership.

Such has been their upward trajectory, they have certainly raised the bar and the expectations about what this group is capable of, and what they should be aiming to achieve going forward.

"When the dust has settled on another eventful campaign, Docherty can rightly reflect on a good body of work, but not for long.

He must embark on his next challenge - trying to build on a level of success the fans would dearly love to become accustomed to on a regular basis.

We asked for your thoughts after Dundee let a two-goal lead slip against Rangers and lost their fourth successive game in the Scottish Premiership.

Here's what you had to say:

Carl: Couldn’t make it up! A great first half but as usual there was no tweaking or even a small change in tactics for the second. Our game management needs improvement. A couple of players off the boil stayed on for 90 mins. Why? An overachieving season, that could have been even better in my opinion.

Gary: Unfortunately it was our whole season in 90 minutes. A great first half, where we were dynamic, fluid, assertive and confident. In the second half we looked tired, rattled, clueless and naive. As Tony Docherty says though, we are a work in progress. Antonio Portales’ goal was a thing of real class. If only we can add solidity and a bit of footballing sense, we’ll be OK.

Anon: I think the top-six spot flattered Dundee to be honest. The amount of points that Dundee threw away this season beggars belief. Watching last nights game I knew that as soon as Rangers scored just before half-time we would go on to lose and I predicted 5-2. Massive improvement is needed for next year as the games after the split have shown.

Listen to Dundee manager Tony Docherty after his side lost to Rangers in the Scottish Premiership.

Watch highlights as Rangers come from behind to beat Dundee in the Scottish Premiership.

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Dundee boss Tony Docherty told BBC Scotland: "First half we were outstanding, we were the better team and should've come in 2-0 up. We controlled the game out of possession and were clinical.

"We're a work in progress, very much so, but there have to be plaudits for the players, getting into the top six and the way we played here first half. There was a bit of naivety.

"People remember the way games finish, we need to remember what we did right. That's the yardstick for me next season.

"I know where we need to improve and we'll make sure we do that for next season."

Rangers recovered from a two-goal deficit to beat Dundee to avoid an Ibrox embarrassment, while also prolonging Celtic’s almost inevitable wait to be crowned Premiership champions.

The visitors scored two goals in two first-half minutes through defenders Jordan McGhee and Antonio Portales to threaten a first win at Ibrox since 2001.

However, Ross McCausland’s toe-poke just before half-time eased the pressure on the hosts before Cyriel Dessers nodded Rangers level six minutes after the restart.

It was Todd Cantwell, who infuriated many in the first half, who whipped Rangers into the lead when his cross flew in, and Scott Wright secured all three points with a late double.

Philippe Clement’s side move three points behind Celtic, who visit Kilmarnock on Wednesday needing one point to seal the title.

Dundee, meanwhile, will finish sixth as their quest for European football was struck a fatal blow.

Were you at Ibrox, or did you watch from home? What did you think when Dundee went 2-0 up? Were you confident, or did you fear the worst?

Let us know your thoughts here.

Andrew Petrie
BBC Sport Scotland

The cracks have started to show at Ibrox in recent weeks, and Dundee threatened to prise them wide open in the first 45 minutes.

They were excellent in that first-half - putting out fires at the back, looking dangerous in attack, and showing no fear all over the park.

But, yet again, they failed to handle the pressure. They've lost 25 points from winning positions in the Premiership this season, more than any other team.

They've won four, drawn three, and lost three when leading at half-time in the league - and they've conceded more goals than any other team in the league.

If they are to make the top six, or even avoid a relegation battle, next season they need to shore up at the back.

Rangers: Butland, Tavernier, Davies, King, Yilmaz, Raskin, Diomande, Cantwell, McCausland, Silva, Dessers.

Substitutes: McCrorie, Dowell, Wright, Roofe, Barisic, Yfeko, Fraser, Lowry, McKinnon.

Dundee: McCracken, McGhee, Portales, Astley, Dodgson, Boateng, Sylla, Tiffoney, Cameron, McCowan, Bakayoko.

Substitutes: Sharp, Main, Mulligan, Robinson, Robertson, Howley, Donnelly, Mellon, Costelloe.

Image source, SNS

• Rangers are unbeaten in 12 meetings with Dundee in all competitions (W10 D2) since a 2-1 defeat in November 2017. The Ibrox side have kept nine clean sheets across those 12 games.

• Dundee have lost their last 16 away games against Rangers in all competitions by an aggregate score of 48-5 since a 2-0 win at Ibrox in March 2001.

• Excluding the curtailed 2019-20 season, Rangers have only lost their final home league game in one of their last 15 seasons (W9 D5), going down 2-1 to Aberdeen in 2016-17.

• Dundee have only won two of their last 18 top-flight league matches played on a Tuesday (D5 L11), including just one of their last 10 such away games (D2 L7).

• Rangers’ James Tavernier has been directly involved in 12 goals in his last 13 Scottish Premiership appearances at Ibrox (6 goals, 6 assist). Only in 2018-19 (16 – 9 goals, 7 assists) has the right-back been directly involved in more goals at Ibrox in a Scottish Premiership campaign than his 12 this term.

Daniel Smith
Fan writer

If was a defeat in the capital for Dundee at the weekend as our already slim hopes of pipping St Mirren to the last European spot got even slimmer.

I thought we played pretty decently, but defensive lapses cost us.

It's been a common occurrence for us this season, being caught napping at the back, and one that's cost us so many points.

Then we have the incident where the Dee were awarded a penalty, only for the referee to go to the monitor and ultimately overturn his decision.

The frustrating part about this was it came when we were 1-0 down and could have changed the game.

Also, we have seen these type of decisions given ever since VAR has been doing its thing, rightly or wrongly, in the Scottish game.

With two game left of the season, the only case for Dundee to move up to fifth would be back-to-back wins against Rangers at Ibrox then Kilmarnock at Dens. A very tough task indeed.

Since our last victory at Ibrox, we have gone 14 league games without a win, all of them defeats.

It's a big task indeed.

Daniel Smith can be found at Up Wi' The Bonnets, external

Image source, SNS

Rangers manager Philippe Clement has 11 players unavailable. John Lundstram is suspended after being sent off against Celtic and John Souttar, Tom Lawrence and Dujon Sterling picked up knocks at Parkhead to join Connor Goldson, Leon Balogun, Oscar Cortes, Rabbi Matondo, Abdallah Sima, Danilo and Bailey Rice on the injury list.

Dundee will assess Jordan McGhee after he picked up a knock against Hearts while Trevor Carson and Ricki Lamie are doubts. Joe Shaughnessy (knee) and Owen Beck (groin) are out.

Dundee have handed a trial to 24-year-old Dutch right-back Robin Lathouwers, who has spent a season with VVV-Venlo in his country's second tier. (The Courier), external

Read Tuesday's Scottish Gossip in full here.

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Luke McCowan promises Dundee will aim to "finish the season with a bang" when they visit Rangers on Tuesday.

The Dens Park side's faint European hopes will be kept alive if they win at Ibrox, while hoping for St Mirren to slip up against Hearts the following day.

But McCowan says his team-mates are determined to leave no stone unturned with two games to go before the campaign ends.

"That’s probably the message I will be telling the boys anyway – there’s nothing really to lose, let’s go out and try and finish the season off with a bang and try and get as positive result as possible," the midfielder said.

“If we are going to lose the game, lose the game by going for it at least, and trying to get a positive result and probably shock a few people. That’s what the plan is.”

“I don’t want to be sitting here going ‘it doesn’t matter how the last three games go, we have had a good season’

“You are only as good as your last game and we have to use that to motivate us.

“The boys always stick together no matter what, whether we are winning five games in a row or losing five games

“We just need to use that camaraderie to go into the last two games with confidence and play with a bit of freedom.”

Can Dundee frustrate Rangers again when they head to Ibrox on Tuesday evening?

The Dens Park side are looking bounce back from a heavy defeat at Hearts and keep their Europa Conference League hopes alive.

Who would you like to see in the starting line-up? Pick your team here.