Premier Power Overcomes Determination in Cup Loss
Dundee’s men bowed out of this year’s Scottish Cup with a fourth-round defeat to Premier League leaders Su Ragazzi. An early start and an in-form side contributed to the home side dominating the early exchanges in the first set. Ragazzi were able to win the side-out point with ease and with 6 points given to them in errors, they opened a 15/11 lead. Dundee’s attack was struggling to win points and had won only 7 of their 15 points with the score at 18/15 for the home side. Ragazzi’s Fraser Dunlop then piled pressure on the Dundee side as his service ripped the visitor’s formation apart to complete a run of 8 points and to eventually take the set 25/16.
Dundee’s response was to score points through Mike Coward, Craig Goldthorp and Lewis Crockart to hold a slender lead at 8/7. Two hitting mistakes let the lead slip and Rad Marinov kept the scores close, at 10/13. Dunlop stepped up again and his serve forced the Dundee attack to play safe and Ragazzi relied by racking up 6 points without reply. Crockart and Oz Dowie added points and Ragazzi gave up 6 in errors but took the set 25/18 for a 2/0 lead.
The third set ran away from Dundee as Ragazzi turned the screw. Runs of points – 2,3,3 and 6- gave the home side a healthy 14/4 lead with Coward and Marinov scoring Dundee’s points. More runs of points for Ragazzi, with replies from Coward and Barry Millar giving little consolation, as the home side took the set 25/14 to march into the quarter finals wining 3/0.
(Game date 26/01/2019)