Dundee

Former captain Charlie Adam played a key initial role in Dundee and Burnley striking their strategic partnership. (Daily Record)

Dundee must quickly learn to be streetwise after the collapse against Heart of Midlothian, says defender Jordan McGhee. (The Courier)

Read all the rest of Thursday's gossip.

Dundee return to league action with a trip to Livingston on Saturday, hoping to bounce back from their Scottish Cup defeat against Kilmarnock.

What team would you pick if you were in Tony Docherty's shoes? Choose your Dundee team here.

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Former Dundee striker Rory Loy says the club's 3-2 defeat to Hearts on Tuesday will "sting", and believes manager Tony Docherty will have a tough task raising the spirits of his players after their collapse at Tynecastle.

Dundee led 2-0 through goals from Jordan McGhee and Lyall Cameron, but conceded three second-half goals and ultimately came away with nothing.

"This will sting for Docherty," Loy said, speaking on the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast. "To lose the game from such a comfortable position will hurt.

"There's so many things you could look at. Was it a little bit of mental weakness when they created one? Was it a lack of creative spark when Luke McCowan went off? There's a lot of things he's going to have to look at and ask 'why did that happen?'.

"I still believe Dundee will be fine, but they are on a sticky run. Taking off your best player should not result in a capitulation though. I think he will have a job picking them back up from this."

Tyrone Smith, BBC Sport Scotland

Dundee are finding out that life back in the Premiership can be a school of hard knocks, one where despite all the praise that might come your way, lessons need to be learned.

Tuesday night’s league defeat at Hearts is a case in point – leading 2-0 at the break, the Dark Blues found themselves empty handed at full-time, and returned back up the road to Tayside with nothing.

After the game, manager Tony Docherty said: "sometimes the penny has to drop, we need to be more resilient and manage games better when we are in front", adding: "we will learn from it because there is a really young talented bunch in there, but we need to learn quick".

There have been a number of hard luck stories for his side this term, plenty of games where they should have taken more than they did.

Make no mistake, the Dark Blues are still very well placed in the league, with games in hand on the teams above them, and if they can learn those lessons, then there is absolutely no reason at all why they can’t find themselves very much in the mix for European places.

We asked for your thoughts after Dundee threw away a two-goal lead at Tynecastle.

Here's a taste of what you had to say:

Albert: A great performance in the first hour, but yet again we've collapsed. Onwards we go though. With a new stadium promised it's a good time to be a Dee.

Anon: This is what being a Dundee supporter is all about. You roll with it.

Doug: Dundee's away strategy this season would appear to be: 1. Build up an impressive lead. 2. Chuck away said impressive lead.

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• Dundee have lost after leading at half time in the Scottish Premiership for the first time since 20th March 2022 against Rangers (5 games without defeat after leading at half time).

• Hearts have won after trailing by two or more goals in the Scottish Premiership for the first time since the start of the 2013-2014 season.

• Alan Forrest has assisted 4 goals this season (2 in this game), more than any other Hearts player in the Scottish Premiership.

• Amadou Bakayoko has assisted 3 goals this season (1 in this game), more than any other Dundee player in the Scottish Premiership.

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Ooft, that's a sore one Dundee fans. Did you feel confident at half-time? Where did it all go wrong?

Let us know your thoughts here.

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Dundee boss Tony Docherty tells BBC Sportsound: "Gutted, the level of performance was top against a good side at Tynecastle. It was exactly the way we wanted to execute the game plan.

"It was important the boys carried out that instruction in the second half, but we make a poor decision to lose the first and second goals.

"We've been undone. The penny has to drop that we have to be more resilient. It's a learning thing and we will learn from this."

Andrew Petrie, BBC Sport Scotland

There were arguably two big turning points in this game, and they both came from the bench. For Dundee, it was Luke McCowan's early exit.

The visitors were comfortable at half-time. Docherty's plan had worked a treat, punishing Hearts' insistence to play out from the back and nipping two goals from them.

But when McCowan made way shortly after the interval, with his side still two up, Dundee lost attacking impetus.

They struggled to create much in the first-half and yet again, they blew a lead. That's now 14 points lost from winning positions - more than anyone else in the league. They need to address that, and quick.

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Lyall Cameron. Took his goal brilliantly and was part of the pressing plan that worked so effectively in the first-half.

Along with Luke McCowan, they pose a genuine threat for Dundee and can produce something from nothing.

Image source, BBC Sport

Daniel Smith, Up Wi' The Bonnets podcast, external

Death, taxes and an early Scottish Cup exit. There is nothing surer in life as a Dundee fan.

Unfortunately, the game was dead and buried after only a meagre three minutes on Saturday at Rugby Park. Some bad decision-making at the back would put an end of reaching Hampden on a sunny May afternoon.

Some enforced changes to the line-up, along with some of the new signings only having one training session, meant that it was an uphill battle the second Killie doubled their lead.

Throw into the equation Dundee seeing a perfectly good goal being chopped off and it was written in the stars that this would not be our year for the 114th year on the trot.

Despite this defeat, the optimist in me looked at it along the lines of being able to blow off the cobwebs of not playing a game in three weeks and, as we always say to make ourselves feel better, "we can concentrate on the league."

We now have two huge away matches. First up, we are away to Hearts on Tuesday night.

If it's called off, I'll be fine with it because it give players that have injuries and the new boys a good few more training session to get to know their new teammates.

The big one comes away to Livingston on Saturday. This is a golden opportunity to move even further away from the bottom of the league, from a team who have looked like relegation certs for the majority of the season.

In other news, Dundee have struck up a partnership with Burnley.

Though the announcement last night gave a wee insight to what this entails, hopefully over the coming few days, we can find out more about the fine print and what it will mean exactly for Dundee Football Club.

Any aspirations Celtic had of signing Liverpool left-back Owen Beck in this transfer window have been ended after the 21-year-old was used as a substitute in their 4-0 win over Bournemouth, which means that only Dundee, with whom he impressed on loan in the first part of the season, and his parent club can use him for the rest of 2023-24 season. (The Scotsman), external

Read Tuesday's Scottish Gossip in full here.

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Former Dundee United player Scott Fraser has held talks with Hearts and Steven Naismith indicated the player could be available for Dundee's visit.

However, the Hearts would not confirm who would play in goal on Tuesday. Scotland keeper Craig Gordon returned to the starting XI after 13 months out with a double leg break. Zander Clark has tended goal for Hearts in Gordon's absence and Naismith is comfortable with whomever he picks to be his number one on Tuesday.

Dundee goalkeeper Adam Legzdins came off in the first half of Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Rugby Park, with Harrison Sharp playing the rest of the match.

Dara Costelloe and Curtis Main made their Dark Blues debuts in that game and could make their league bows for the club at Tynecastle, while fellow January signings Ryan Astley and Owen Dodgson could make their first appearance.

Image source, SNS

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The SPFL say the draft report of an independent review of the league's operations shows it complies "with significant elements of the UK Code of Corporate Governance".

The review was commissioned in July after the SPFL's chairman Murdoch MacLennan apologised to Rangers as a dispute over sponsorship was concluded.

The SPFL agreed a deal with car firm cinch in 2021 but Rangers did not promote the deal and took the matter to court, citing a prior agreement with rival car retailer Park's of Hamilton.

"I am reassured but not complacent," said MacLennan of the review.

"We will now take time to consider Henderson Loggie's detailed recommendations before bringing suggested changes back to the 42 SPFL member clubs for their consideration.

“Whilst a number of the recommendations from the draft report are already being addressed, the board and the wider organisation will, of course, take all necessary steps to improve further on the excellent work which has been undertaken to date."

It wasn't the return to action Dundee were hoping for after the winter break.

Having been knocked out the Scottish Cup by Kilmarnock's quickfire double, Tony Docherty will be looking for a response as his side go to Tynecastle on Tuesday.

Who would you like to see on the teamsheet? Pick your team here.

Image source, BBC Sport