Dundee had to settle for a point from a 0-0 derby draw at the Kilmac Stadium against Dundee United. The Dee had the edge over United for most of the game, but could not find the goals to give them the win that they needed and would have deserved.
There were four changes to the Dark Blues’ starting eleven following the draw in Perth. Vontae Daley-Campbell came straight in for his debut. Niall McGinn was given his first start, while Charlie Adam and Danny Mullen returned. They replaced Christie Elliott and Luke McCowan, who were on the bench, and Paul McGowan and Leigh Griffiths.
United created the first spot of danger when Marc McNulty sent a low cross flashing through the goalmouth, taking a deflection on its way for a corner.
The visitors had plenty of possession and attacked regularly throughout the first half. However, it was Dundee who had the edge in attack, but frustratingly the Dark Blues could not turn promising opportunities into clear chances.
Max Anderson created problems for United with some powerful driving runs through the midfield. One was ended with a crude foul, but the referee played the advantage. Paul McMullan ran on, but couldn’t get a clean shot away and had to settle for a corner.
Vontae Daley-Campbell pleased the Dee support with some exciting attacking down the right. The youngster from Leicester skinned Scott McMann with a nutmeg, but Anderson’s shot from the cross was blocked.
Charlie Adam whipped a promising free kick into the goalmouth, but United were able to scramble clear.
McMullan came closest to a goal from Niall McGinn’s cross, but Benjamin Siegrist pulled off a fine save to paw the glancing header to safety.
The second half continued in the same vein with the Dark Blues doing most of the attacking. United were surprisingly ineffective when they tried to come forward and the Dundee defence handled their efforts well.
A lovely first touch by McGinn gave him the chance to run into the penalty area, but he couldn’t find a teammate with his pass. From the resulting throw the ball broke to McMullan on the edge of the penalty area but his firmly struck volley flew straight at Siegrist.
The momentum was with the Dee and twin substitutions after 61 minutes gave the Dark Blues an additional burst of energy. Zak Rudden and Luke McCowan came on for McGinn and Adam. Jordan McGhee had replaced Daley-Campbell a couple of minutes previously.
20 minutes from full time Dundee twice came agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock. Rudden ran in behing the United defence onto a McMullan pass and his angled shot beat Siegrist, deflected off Ross Graham and was headed off the line by Ryan Edwards. From the corner Rudden was again denied by a goalline clearance, Clar
United came back into the game in the last 10 minutes and Clark had the final chance. Substitute Peter Pawlett made a good run down the left, allowing Tony Watt to cross. Clark took the ball only a few yards out, but Ryan Sweeney hurled himself in the way, head first, forcing the United forward to hook his shot well over the bar.
Dundee can play better than this but there were still plenty of good aspects to their performance. A second consecutive clean sheet is certainly welcome; the much criticised defence did very well. The midfield was always competitive and largely dominated their United counterparts. The whole team grafted for the full 90 minutes and the forwards chased everything, trying to find space and always prepared to press United players into errors.
The frustration, however, was that Dundee couldn’t find the creative spark to turn a series of promising openings into good chances to score. That applied even more strongly to United. For a Dundee derby there was a surprisingly lack of real goalmouth action.
Over the 93 minutes of play there was only one save, by Siegrist, that was anything more than routine, the two goalline clearances, and Clark’s miss under pressure at the end.
The new players all provided evidence that they will be useful signs. Niall McGinn linked well with his new teammates. Vontae Daley-Campbell was casual in possession on a couple of occasions, but apart from that was solid and offered a threat coming forward. Zak Rudden worked hard, combined well with other attackers and looked to make runs into space.
A point was frustrating, and few supporters would have settled for that when the Dee were charging at United in the second half, but there were signs of promise in the performance. Dundee must build on it.
Dundee FC 4-2-3-1
Legzdins
Daley-Campbell (McGhee 57), Sweeney, Fontaine, Kerr
Adam (c) (Rudden 61), Byrne
McMullan, Anderson, McGinn (McCowan 61)
Mullen (Chapman 87)
Unused subs: Lawlor (gk), McDaid, Mulligan, Elliott, Robertson.
Booked: Adam (foul on Graham).
Dundee United 3-4-3
Siegrist
Edwards (c), Butcher, Graham
Freeman (Smith 55), Levitt, Harkes, McMann (Niskanen 69)
McNulty (Pawlett 69), Clark, Watt
Unused subs: Eriksson (gk), McDonald, Akinola, Meekison, Neilson, Mochrie.
Booked: none.
Attendance: 11,273.
Referee: John Beaton. Assistants: Frank Connor, Alan Mulvanny. Fourth Official: Gavin Duncan.
Report: James Christie.
