Tony Docherty claims he could only envisage Dundee progress against Hearts in the Scottish Cup – as he takes aim at a Jambos free kick that turned pivotal.
A double from Sander Kartum and a Simon Murray own goal cancelled out Joe Shaugnessy’s second half header, as Neil Critchley’s side won the quarter-final tie 3-1. Oluwaseun Adewumi hit the bar at the end of the first half and Dundee were in the ascendency after Shaughnessy’s header.
Kabangu then won a foul in the Dundee half as Hearts control grew and Murray flicked it past his own goalkeeper Trevor Carson before Kartum grabbed his second of the night. Hearts also missed chances that could have made it a rout but Dens Park boss Docherty has been left annoyed by the second Jambos goal.
Hearts free kick claim
The Dundee gaffer says that Kabangu went down very easily as he cast doubt over the award. He said: “I was disappointed with the first-half performance. I wanted the players to show more bravery, be better on the ball. I thought we gave away possession too often, we didn’t retain possession well and I challenged them at half-time.
“I said I don’t want to go out of a cup, you know, being that team that are passive and they’re not aggressive with their passing and aggressive with their pressing. I challenged them at half-time and I thought they came out in the second half and they showed that side of them, that bravery, and I thought we got Hearts exactly where we wanted them. We got the goal back with the real impetus.
“I thought the crowd were fantastic, almost sucking the ball into that goal and I just think we had them at that stage. That’s exactly where I wanted it and where I envisaged the game being. Then there’s moments in the gam. I think we’ve got a couple of breakaways and one in particular where we should just slip Adewumi in and that’s the game, that’s the match winner for me.
“But these moments, that’s pivotal and from that, I don’t think it’s a free-kick. I’ve seen it back. I think Kabangu goes down really, really easily but then the ball goes into an area and it gets a touch off my man in the front space and I’m right behind it. I see it going in. I’m disappointed.
“If I see that bravery in my team that I’ve seen to get us back in the game and, as I say, get Hearts exactly where we wanted them in a cup tie, then that will serve us well for the nine cup finals that we’ve got coming up now. But I can’t come away from the fact I’m hugely disappointed. I didn’t envisage that. I’ve seen nothing but us winning in a cup.”
“If we’d went out with the performance in the first half I would be really angry but I thought we did enough to get us back into that situation. And, as I say, we get them exactly where we want them but then go and take advantage of that and, unfortunately, it went the other way.”
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