Dee missed opportunity

PLAYERRATINGS Dundee fail to pull away at foot of the Premiership

AFTER the drama of the preChristmas win over Hearts on Friday it was all a bit flat from Dundee as they went down to Partick Thistle last night.

Seeking a fourth win in a row at Firhill, there was the usual endeavour from the Dark Blues and a fair chunk of possession to go with it.

They would argue there was also a slice of bad luck as they fell behind to a perfectly-executed Callum Booth free-kick the away players felt was the result of a fair challenge on Kris Doolan by Kostadin Gadzhalov.

If an accusing finger was pointed at referee Kevin Clancy for that, the players only had themselves to blame for the loss of a second just before half-time.

Doolan’s close-range effort after Scott Bain had done well to block a Chris Erskine shot, was the result of poor defending.

And, over the piece, while this should not be put down as anything approaching a dreadful display, Dundee simply didn’t do enough to have been able to expect to take anything home from this trip west.

For all they had decent spells of possession throughout the 90 minutes, it took them something approaching 40 minutes to force a save from home keeper Tomas Cerny.

He had a few more shots to deal with after the break but it has to be said at no time did he look like being beaten.

On top of that, while no one could say the Jags were able to lay siege to Bain’s goal for any significant spell, sporadically they created chances that required good defending, or saves, to keep out.

In the end, that meant despite the displeasure with the decision-making at the opener, no one could argue particularly strongly this was anything other than a fair result.

Partick were the better side and deserved their second league win in a row.

That meant this represented a missed opportunity for Paul Hartley’s men.

With Hamilton Accies going down at Aberdeen and Inverness Caley Thistle losing out at home to Motherwell last night, the chance was there to open a six-point gap to the bottom two places in the table.

The fact that never looked likely to happen can only have added to the frustration of the several hundred fans who’d headed for Maryhill to build on that spirited 3-2 success last Friday.

For all that disappointment, what shouldn’t be forgotten is, over the last couple of months, the points haul has been encouraging.

Dundee have slipped back down to ninth from their weekend position of seventh but remain in much better shape than when they finished a similar midweek card at the end of October, rooted to the bottom of the Premiership.

If they can maintain impressive home form that’s yielded 10 points from a possible 12 over the last four Dens outings when St Johnstone visit on Saturday, they will go into the winter break with their revival very much still ongoing.

For that to happen there will need to be more potency in attack. Maybe, just maybe, the manager will turn to Faissal El Bakhtaoui to provide that.

A second-half sub for James Vincent just before the hour mark, the Frenchborn Moroccan turned in a lively performance and was without question one of the positives of an off night.