Another Dundee game, another draw.
That is six in fourteen games this season that we have finished on level terms with the opposition, the highest in the league. We are quickly becoming the draw specialists of the Scottish Premiership.
The game on Saturday against Partick Thistle was one that I genuinely believed we would win and do so comfortable. What occurred was ninety minutes of sheer frustration! It was a bright start and we had a couple of chances to go ahead but ultimately it would be Partick who would land the sucker punch after just five minutes.
An early corner against the run of play, everybody was marking up in the Dundee box and despite most of the Bobby Cox stand signalling that there was a Partick player unmarked at the front post, he was not picked up and undeservedly nodded Thistle in front.
It was a cruel blow so early in the game for the Dee.
Even at this point I thought that we would pull one back quickly and still go on to win but going behind seemed to rattle the players and more so, the fans. A few misplaced passes or playing the ball back to the keeper were met with boos from some sections. Fair enough when your pushing for a goal in the last minute and this happens, frustration might get the best of you and then you might do this but in the first half? Nonsense.
Dundee kept plucking away for the equaliser throughout the game but there was no end product as the players would fail to find a way past the Thistle defence. The opposition on the other hand had set out their team and were doing well to get men back to close down Dundee and hit us on the counter attack. On a good few occasions when they were going forward, you thought it was inevitable that they would go two goals up.
Dundee would of course pull off the a great escape moment when Kane Hemmings found the ball at his feet just outside the six yard box and coolly slipped the ball past the balding former Dundee United keeper, Paul Gallagher. I fully anticipated that our celebrations would be short lived as there was a hint of offside from where I was sitting but the linesman did not lift his flag. We had just used our get out of jail card to steal a point. Or so I thought.
After levelling the score we then proceeded to push for a winner, and nearly did just that. A header by Konrad at the near post was well saved by Gallagher who had again done well to stop us scoring. Thistle pushed forward and despite the defence dealing with them and collecting the ball, Kevin Holt decided to play a square ball across the defence which was intercepted. The next minute felt like about five to me as Thistle kept attacking out goal and every time we failed to clear our lines. When we did manage to clear the ball it just had to fall to a player in the red and yellow tops. Eventually they would put the ball over the bar and the game ended 1-1.
In my opinion, it was a bad result. If we are to be finishing in the top six this season then home games against Partick should only ever end in one outcome. Three points.
We now enter a crucial stage of the season. Seven games between now and New Year. On paper, it is a really tough run of fixtures. I cannot even make a guess myself what the outcome of these games will be because I do not know what type of team will show up each day.
What I do know is, with teams above and below us picking up points more regularly Dundee really need to pick up a good few wins. If we do not do so then we might just be dragged into a relegation dogfight which is the last thing we want.
