Dundee midfielder Mo Sylla ‘responsive’ after collapsing in dressing room at half-time

Tony Docherty insists the better team lost as Dundee fell to a 2-1 home defeat to high-flying Aberdeen.

First-half goals from Kevin Nisbet and Topi Keskinen had the Dons two in front before Simon Murray’s penalty made it 2-1 moments before the break.

But a worrying development saw Mo Sylla hospitalised after collapsing in the dressing room at half-time.

The second-half restart was delayed due to a worrying medical incident involving the Dark Blues midfielder, who was initially treated by paramedics at Dens before being taken to Ninewells.

‘Medics involved’

“He is responsive at the moment,” Docherty explained.

“It wasn’t a nice thing to see. Mo took a turn at half-time.

“He took a knock in his head I think and went down. But certainly when we were speaking at half-time, he took a turn for want of a better word.

“The medics were involved and we had to get the players out of there.

“He’s responsive. He’s in hospital right now.

“We’ll just need to assess that and see how he is.”

Fabian Caballero tribute

It was an emotional afternoon at Dens Park as home fans said farewell to Fabian Caballero after his shock death at 46.

A minute’s applause rang out from all ends of the park ahead of kick-off.

Docherty said post-match: “The Dundee family are mourning the loss of a brilliant servant to the football club.”

However, there was no win to ease the sorrow.

The Aberdeen train rolls on with a 12th win from 12 for Jimmy Thelin, though it was a backs-to-the-wall defensive display that earned the points this time.

“We hemmed them in second half and did everything but it never fell for us,” Tony Docherty rued.

“We made changes and it was a dominant display but it’s frustrating we give ourselves a mountain to climb.

“You can’t need to score three goals to win a game.”

Costly errors

Clark Robertson made his long-awaited debut as Tony Docherty switched to a 3-5-2 setup, the former Aberdeen man slotting into the middle of the backline.

The first chance came for Dundee as Scott Tiffoney slid Lyall Cameron through but his finish from the angle rose over the bar.

The Dons were causing problems with their movement but hadn’t threatened much until the 15th minute.

A hopeful long ball should have been dealt with by Billy Koumetio but the ball fell for the speedy Keskinen and he was off.

A simple cut-back for Nisbet and Dundee were behind.

It was 2-0 on 32 minutes and again the Dark Blues caused their own problems. Mo Sylla went over on the ball in midfield looking for a free-kick but referee Calum Scott wasn’t interested.

Suddenly one ball and Keskinen was set away, two-on-one against Robertson, and he made no mistake in taking the chance himself and beating Jon McCracken.

The Dons had been clinical in taking advantage of errors from the home side who had enjoyed plenty of the ball in attacking areas but without creating too much.

Until McCracken played it long for Murray. The Dens skipper wrestled his way in behind the Dons defence before being brought down in the area by Gavin Molloy.

Murray stepped up himself and slotted home the penalty, his first goal as a Dundee player at Dens Park.

Second half dominance

Dundee came out from the break without Sylla after he was taken to hospital.

Much of the second period was spent in the Aberdeen half with Dundee piling the pressure on.

On 57 minutes, a long McCracken kick saw Tiffoney scamper away but his effort from the angle was pushed behind by Dimitar Mitov.

The Dons were defending well before a late flurry almost forced the equaliser – Cameron saw a goal-bound shot blocked on 85 minutes.

Sub Curtis Main then flicked a clever effort into the near post but into the arms of Mitov.

Then in stoppage time, Scott Fraser on for his debut from the bench, curled an enticing cross into the area for Koumetio but the big Frenchman headed over.

With that the game was gone and, despite protestations over time added-on, Dundee suffered a third straight defeat.

‘Better team lost’

Docherty added: “It was very frustrating. It’s not often I come in after the game and say the better team lost.

“To be fair to Jimmy, he’s an honest guy, and he said that when we shook hands.

“That certainly doesn’t make it feel any better just now.

“Aberdeen have momentum but they are getting the rub of the green at the moment. That will turn for us if I make sure the players are resilient and keep doing the work.

“A lot of stuff, they did right today, but we need to take responsibility. Aberdeen had two shots on target and scored two goals.

“The two shots come from us in possession making mistakes.

“The game is all about scoring in one goal and keeping them out the other. That’s something we need to take responsibility for.

“But I reiterated to the players that if I get that consistent level of performance we will win more games than we lose.”

Teams

Dundee (3-5-2): McCracken, C Robertson, Koumetio, Portales, Ingram (Vetro 87), Larkeche (Adewumi 78), Sylla (Mulligan 46), Braybrooke (Fraser 78), Cameron, Tiffoney, Murray (Main 78).

Subs not used: Carson, Astley, F Robertson, Palmer-Houlden, Vetro.

Aberdeen (4-2-3-1): Mitov, Devlin, Mackenzie, Shinnie, Nilsen, McGrath (Palaversa 66), Nisbet (Ambrose 82), Clarkson (Morris 87), Molloy, Rubezic, Keskinen (Besuijen 87).

Subs not used: Doohan, Duk, Sokler, Milne, MacDonald.

Attendance: 9,030