Dundee and Partick Thistle fought out a goalless draw in Glasgow this afternoon. Both teams tried their hardest to find a winner, but neither side could find the quality required to win a game in which the defences were on top. The Dee and Jags both deserved the clean sheets that gave them a point apiece when they both badly wanted three.
There were two changes to the Dee starting line up. Josh Mulligan and Jordan Marshall came in at full back to replace the injured Cammy Kerr and Ryan Clampin.
The Dark Blues started well and for the first five minutes all the play was in the Thistle half. None of it amounted to any threat to the home goal, however.
Thistle grew into the game and started to build dangerous attacks. The Jags had the edge in midfield and repeatedly played their way into promising positions. Dundee defended well in the penalty area, but the home side was finding it too easy to get there, playing their way around the Dee midfield and full backs.
Nevertheless, Dundee had the first real goal attempt when David Mitchell saved at full stretch from Luke Hannant at the end of a Dee break.
Too often Dundee’s breaks ended with a poor pass, or without a cross from a good position. The Dark Blues’ attacks would usually fizzle out with hesitancy giving Thistle plenty of time to cover and close down the opportunity.
Despite Thistle’s good attacks the Dundee defenders restricted them to only one real chance in the first half. Steven Lawless broke through the middle and sent Scott Tiffoney clear into the penalty area. Fortunately for Dundee he took a heavy touch which allowed Adam Legzdins to block.
Dundee won a series of corners in the last few minutes of the half. Thistle didn’t always deal with them tidily, but the Dee couldn’t take advantage of the odd moment of carelessness.
The Dark Blues had to improve after half time if they wanted to avoid defeat and they did so. They had the better of the second half without ever being convincing in attack.
Dundee were far more effective in midfield after the restart. Ben Williamson was the dominant figure, dictating play until injury forced him off after 72 minutes. The Dark Blues had already stepped up a gear when Alex Jakubiak and Luke McCowan replaced Zach Robinson and Paul McMullan on the hour.
The Dark Blues had struggled to hold the ball in midfield in the first half but they did far better after half time. They were using the wings better and putting Thistle under pressure, but could never find any end product from some prolonged attacks.
Thistle had a half chance after Tiffoney got free on the left but he smashed an angled shot straight at Legzdins when he had better options. Later in the same attack Legzdins saved well from Lawless’s 18 yard effort.
Dundee couldn’t create enough real danger at the end of some promising attacks. Mitchell blocked at the feet of Robinson and the ball broke kindly for the defence.
Both teams put everything into the hunt for a winner in injury time. Dundee could well have had a penalty when Bannigan downed Hannant in the box, but Thistle got the benefit of the referee’s doubt.
At the very end ex-Dee Danny Mullen managed to wrestle Lee Ashcroft off the ball as the defender was ushering it out for a goal kick. Perhaps surprised that he was not penalised he wasted the opportunity by thrashing a shot high over the bar from an impossible angle.
A draw was a fair result in the end after a tough, hard fought battle. There was some good football from both sides when they were on top. Both defences played well when the other side was dominating in midfield, but nobody could find the quality required in the final third and neither goalkeeper had a particularly hard afternoon.
A point and a clean sheet at a very difficult ground is hardly a bad result, but falling two more points behind Queens Park will obviously disappoint the fans.
There are still eight games to go, and five of them are at Dens. The first of these is on Tuesday against Ayr. To get the points that Dundee need the team will have to be more composed and clinical in the final third.
Partick Thistle 4-2-3-1
Mitchell
McMillan, Brownlie, Holt, Hodson
Docherty (c), Bannigan
Lawless (Fitzpatrick 63, McKinnon 89), Turner, Tiffoney (Dowds 77)
Graham (Mullen 77)
Unused subs: Sneddon (gk), Owens, MacKenzie, Stevenson.
Booked: none.
Dundee FC 4-1-4-1
Legzdins
Mulligan, Ashcroft, Sweeney (c), Marshall (Anderson 66)
Williamson (Robertson 72)
McMullan (McCowan 61), McGhee, Cameron, Hannant
Robinson (Jakubiak 61)
Unused subs: Lawlor (gk), Sharp (gk), Byrne, Fisher.
Booked: Williamson (foul on Docherty), McGhee (foul on Turner), Ashcroft (dissent).
Referee: Alan Newlands. Assistants: Gordon McCabe, Steven Reid.
Attendance: 3,656.
Report: James Christie.
