Dundee welcome rivals Dundee United to Dens Park, for the 3rd Dundee Derby of the season. 

The away side have won the previous 2 derbies this season. In the most recent meeting, Dundee beat United 1-0 at Tannadice, with Hay’s goal right at the end of the first period the difference between the sides. In the first meeting of the season, Jim Goodwin’s side won 2-0, with the goals coming from Sapsford and Dolcek.

Dundee come into the derby off the back of an impressive 2-1 win against high-flying Motherwell. Steven Pressley’s side are unbeaten in their last 4 games, which included a first win at Pittodrie since 2004 and a 95th minute equaliser against Hibernian after McGrath thought he won it when he found the net on 89 minutes.

On the other hand, United come into the Derby off the back of a 2-1 defeat against Falkirk, which saw their Scottish Cup hopes come to an end. The Terrors have only won 1 of their last 5 matches, with that 1 win coming against St Mirren at Tannadice.

Dundee have a respectable home league record. The Dens Park outfit have won 6, drawn 3 and lost 5 of their 14 home league games. However, they have beaten Celtic, who they play at home on April 5th, beaten Falkirk and beaten Motherwell at Dens Park.

Dundee United have not been great on the road this campaign. The Tangerines have won 3, drawn 6 and lost 5 of their 14 away matches in the league, however, 1 of those wins did come against Dundee.

Steven Pressley’s reaction to win against Motherwell:

“We set up in a certain way, Motherwell adapted, tested us but time and time again the players found solutions.

At times we showed good bravery. It’s small steps from us in the right direction, that’s now seven points from our last nine against Aberdeen, Motherwell and Hibernian which is a good return but the most pleasing thing for me is that we’re making progress and the players are showing a lot of personality and a lot of character.

“Motherwell had a lot of pressure, a lot of efforts on goal and made it really difficult for us but time and time again the players came up with the answers and defended for their lives.

“I think for that effort alone it’s really pleasing for them to get the rewards with the win.”

On Jon McCracken:

“Jon McCracken has been terrific for us all season. There’s been a couple of moments of late but he’s responded brilliantly to that. There hasn’t been that many, and also we have to remember it’s his first real run of games at this level. he’s played more games this season than in any other season so he’s learning all the time, growing all the time.”

Jim Goodwin’ reaction to defeat against Falkirk:

“I don’t want to be making any excuses but we’ve had nine games in five weeks and we could have done without the St Mirren game three days before a Firday night game. Add to that we’ve had key players suspended but it’s a really disappointing outcome but you can’t afford to start like we did.

“We wont allow the season to peter out. We have a big job to close the gap on Falkirk but we’ll not give up on that.”