Dundee at Kilmarnock: Team news as referee who earned fury of Tony Docherty set to take charge

by · The Courier

Dundee face Kilmarnock for an eighth time in just 14 months this weekend.

Since Tony Docherty left the assistant manager job at Rugby Park, he’s only got the better of his old boss Derek McInnes once.

That was the last meeting when the Dark Blues roared back from 2-0 down at Dens Park to win 3-2 – turning the tables on Killie from just a month previously.

Those eight matches have remarkably seen 26 goals fly in with 11 of those coming after the 80th minute.

What drama awaits in Ayrshire this time?

Dundee FC v Kilmarnock team news

Dundee striker Curtis Main scored against Hibs last weekend but picked up an injury in midweek. Image: SNS

Dundee keep losing experienced players to injury – Clark Robertson (thigh) and Curtis Main (knee) have joined Scott Fraser and Joe Shaughnessy in the physio room.

The plastic surface at Rugby Park may also be a problem for goalkeeper Trevor Carson. He missed games at Killie and Livingston earlier this year because of the pitch.

The Dark Blues will have Julien Vetro back available while Josh Mulligan is good to go despite limping off against Hibs last weekend.

Sean Kelly could debut.

Stuart Findlay gets treatment from Killie physios and Dundee medic Dr Derek McCormack (in red) after suffering an ankle injury at Dens Park. Image: Paul Devlin/SNS

Kilmarnock will be without Scotland cap Stuart Findlay until March after injuring his ankle in the Dens Park meeting at the start of the month.

Liam Donnelly is suspended after a red card last week while Matty Kennedy has been given an injection on a back injury that kept him out at St Johnstone but hadn’t trained before Thursday’s pre-match press conference.

David Watson is also a doubt after coming off at McDiarmid Park last week.

Managers on Rugby Park match

Dundee boss Tony Docherty said: “It’ll be a difficult game.

“We’ve had a couple of brilliant games against them, shared 10 goals, three points one way, three points the other.

“I just think it’s two good teams going at it, two really competitive teams.

“And I expect Saturday to be the exact same.

“Kilmarnock are very strong at home, so we know we need to do our best to put on a level of performance.

“But we’ve been training on AstroTurf all week ourselves.”

Derek McInnes and Tony Docherty (left) during their time together at Aberdeen. Image: SNS.

Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes said: “Both teams are similar in terms of setup. A lot of time there are two strikers on the pitch for both teams.

“We’ve had late goals, both teams have had a history of being good with set-plays and there has been drama towards the end of games.

“Games can be quite open. It was hugely disappointing to lost last time in the manner we did.

“It’s unusual to be playing Dundee for the third time and we’ve not even played Motherwell yet.”

Recent clashes

Ziyad Larkeche wins the last meeting with Kilmarnock with his third Dundee goal of the season. Image: Paul Devlin/SNS

3/11/24 Dundee 3-2 Kilmarnock (Palmer-Houlden 41, McGhee 56, Larkeche 90+4; Anderson 24, Kennedy 40)

5/10/24 Dundee 2-3 Kilmarnock (Larkeche 24, Adewumi 81; Kennedy 86 & 90+4, Anderson 88)

18/5/24 Dundee 1-1 Kilmarnock (McCowan 37; Mackay-Steven 24)

2/3/24 Dundee 2-2 Kilmarnock (Dennis og 11, McCowan (p) 63; Watkins 35, Deas 90+2)

20/1/24 Kilmarnock 2-0 Dundee (Vassell 1, Watkins 3)

Referee

Dundee appeal to Ross Hardie after the referee awarded Celtic a second-half penalty in October. Image: Craig Foy/SNS

The man in the middle for this one is Ross Hardie, assisted by Daniel McFarlane and Brian Christie. Don Robertson is VAR, assisted by David McGeachie.

Hardie has taken charge of 15 matches this season, showing 56 yellow cards and two reds.

One of those was a recent Dundee match at Celtic where Tony Docherty was angry not to see a tug on Mo Sylla punished moments before a penalty was given against Antonio Portales.

Last season he dished out nine reds in 30 games, including a sending off for Luke McCowan during a Dundee win at Livingston.