Dee and County huff and puff but draw a fair result
AS goalless draws go this was a long way from being the worst, especially as the game wore on.
With only four points separating the bottom seven teams, every point is vital, even this early in the season.
Yet credit both Dundee and County for raising the tempo and opening up the game late on as both sides strived to take the three points.
Marcus Habet passed up a glorious opportunity to win the game for Dundee with 15 minutes remaining. However, the Canadian striker blasted the ball wide after being sent clear by Kevin Gomis.
County sub Alex Schalk thought he’d scored four minutes later when he headed a cross from Craig Curran goalwards only to see Scott Bain produce a quite stunning save.
Dundee boss Paul Hartley summed things up perfectly, saying: ” It was frantic, end-to-end stuff towards the end.
“Haber should have scored then minutes later Bain keeps us in it. With things so close from fifth place to bottom spot, every point will be vital until the end of the season.
“I felt we were OK first half and defended OK throughout. However, we can pass the ball better.”
Although County have now gone five games unbeaten, manager Jim McIntyre was disappointed to only leave Dens with one point.
“We were excellent and the better team throughout. Unfortunately we lacked a cutting edge in the final third,” he said.
“I’m certainly not happy with just the one point given the chances we created although I am pleased to
keep our unbeaten run going. Dundee only had one good chance but it was a great oppor tunity. Then great credit to Bain for his brilliant save to keep out Schalk’s header.
“The last 20 minutes really was end to end as both teams were desperate to win.”
The first half was best forgotten but the game certainly came alive after the break.
Dundee had been slow to get men forward to support Marcus Haber and Craig Wighton in the first 45 minutes but after the break they threw off the shackles.
They still seemed to be coming to terms with their 3- 5- 2 formation. Their three central midfielders were perpaps reluctant to leave the back line exposed, but there needed to be a better balance to help Haber and Wighton.
County looked more comfortable in their 4-4-2 set-up, with much more movement off the ball.
However, they passed up several half- chances and, in the end, a draw was the right result.
Between now and the end of the season fans should prepare themselves for more games like this. With so little seperating so many, nobody can afford to go gung-ho.
Five players were booked but this was a fairly incidentfree encounter.