Dundee 1-2 Queen of the South: Dees fans vent anger at James McPake

James McPake, Dundee’s despairing manager, insisted their fans were right to vent their fury and admitted he would have done likewise had he been watching from the stand.

Dundee manager James McPake looks dejected at full time. Picture: Craig Foy / SNS

McPake, pictured, was forced to endure a third straight defeat which brought a chorus of dissent from the fed-up home support as two-goal hero Stephen Dobbie snatched victory for the Doonhamers in injury time after substitute Danny Johnson looked like giving the Dark Blues a share of the points with his 93rd minute equaliser.

Dobbie’s sublime first-half strike has put Allan Johnston’s seventh-placed side in the driving seat, before Johnson levelled for McPake’s men prior to Dobbie’s dramatic winner just 11 seconds later which piled more misery on their abject opponents.

And McPake, who must now lift his troops for next weekend’s hazardous trip to face Arbroath, insisted he would have been venting his public frustration as well had he not been in the dug-out. “I completely understand where the fans are coming from and this is definitely not going to get them on-side,” said McPake.

“We got ourselves back into a game and looked like getting a point. But let’s not kid ourselves because we didn’t deserve anything.”

Dundee had chance to reduce the gap on city rivals United to nine points after their match against Morton had been postponed earlier in the day, but never appeared capable of seizing the opportunity.

The visitors took the lead approaching the half-hour mark. Darren Brownlie began the move by feeding the ever-green skipper who had only one thing on his mind when he picked up possession. The 36-year-old forward ghosted past a couple of Dundee defenders before unleashing an unstoppable 20-yard left-foot effort which nestled in Jack Hamilton’s far corner.

Instead of taking the game to Queens after the break, Dundee almost found themselves 2-0 down. Connor Murray was sent clean through as the home defence again dithered and the youngster’s dipping shot fizzed just over the bar.

Dundee’s Kane Hemmings came within inches of hauling them level in the 57th minute, only for Queens keeper Robbie McCrorie to scramble his close-range shot off the line.

Johnson thought he’d snatched a point for the hosts with a well-taken 20-yard strike from Jordan McGhee’s pass, but Dobbie had the last laugh when Forster got caught on the ball allowing the Queens captain to keep calm and chip over Hamilton.

Palmerston manager Allan Johnston said: “I thought it was an outstanding performance from all our players.”