Another month gone by and still no new grounds to report on.  What can I say, life intervenes.  Sometimes its just difficult to fit everything in.  You people just have no idea of the staggering range of exciting offers fred and I have to juggle everyday.  Artists, poets, movie stars - they all come knocking on our door over here at fortytwogrounds mansions, they all want a piece of us (I mean, sure its usually to ask us to put their rubbish out for them or make sure we water the azaleas properly next time, but still).  And then, of course, things like this keep happening and your heart breaks and all the joy and hope seeps out of the world and you’re left an empty, broken man who can no longer even imagine ever enjoying anything ever again.  That can make it difficult to get up for a game too.

Anyway, to fill in the time till the next game (hopefully in May.  Probably in May.  Maybe in May), here’s another dip into the archives.  Seeing as how Dundee have just been pipped to the first division title this season, I thought it might be a good time to revisit ground number 11 -  Dens Park.

Here’re are few things we learned during our trip to see Dundee vs Livingston on 27th October 2007.

  • Dundee taxi drivers are totally mental.  No, seriously.  Really worryingly scary.  Like the guy we had who made us promise not to walk back into town after the game because the Hilltown is far too dangerous for the likes of us (I think because fredmadison confessed to having a copy of the Guardian in his bag) and we’d totally, definitely get knifed.  Way to promote your town, by the way.
  • Dundee’s stewards are even more totally mental.  Particularly the guy with the mad, empty eyes (much like Dick Campbell) who spent the whole game staring us out (looking for all the world as though he was imagining what our intestines would look like wrapped around his neck) and shuffling menacingly over to intimidate the young boys sitting along from us.
  • Livingston don’t have many fans.  We sat in the away end for this one (partly so we might have some company on our dangerous, daredevil walk back to the train station after the match).  The Bob Shankly stand was pretty sparsely populated that day, I can tell you.
  • Fredmadison’s polo fetish continues unabated.  Maybe time to add another product to the growing list of controlled substances around here (along with haribo space mix, kettle crisps and, oh, too many, many things to mention in a public forum like this)
  • Dundee were a decent side this season, or so it seemed to us.  They went behind to a breakaway goal early on (which had the two or three livvie fans around us dancing in joy), but still kept passing the ball around quite nicely.  Kevin Mcdonald in the middle of the park did look just about as good as some of his press says he might be.  Bob Davidson was not too shabby either, scored with a screamer just after livvie’s goal (although, as I recall, the Livingston keeper (huge bloke, he was, huge) left a lot to be desired all the way through the game).  All in all, Dundee weren’t flattered by the score at all and seemed to score just about every time they went forward during the second half.  Livingston were just a bit rubbish all round, by contrast - all long punts and no composure. 
  • Dens park is another one of these slightly depressing places.  One of these grounds that’s been developed in bits and pieces over the years as the club bounced around between the top two divisions.  The result is a lopsided sort of a feel with two clean, but pretty characterless stands behind either goal and a couple of ramshackle old stands running along each touchline.  The North stand also has a very odd curve to it that makes it feel as though it’s a long way away from the action.  Odd all round, though the view we had over the badlands at the outskirts of the city was quite striking.  Not pretty in anyway, mind you, but ‘striking’.
  • On the way back after the game we ignored the advice of our taxi driver mentalist and braved the walk down Hilltown to the city centre.  Its not so tough.  We’ve seen worse.  We might be bourgois, middle class, Guardian-reading men in suits these days, but we’ve been around.  We’ve seen worse.  I have some scars I could show you (not all of which are mental), if you want the proof.

Here’re a couple of match reports dundee-4.

And here’s somebody else’s flickr site with some more pictures taken at the game.

Vital Match Statistics

Saturday 27th October 2007

Scottish Football League Division One

Dens Park, Dundee

Dundee 4 (Davidson 20, Zemlik 61, Davidson 68, Lyle 73) - Livingston 1 (Pesir 14)

Attendance: 3,639