GARDYNE WARY OF DROP THREAT
WITH 24 goals shared between these teams in their last four encounters, supporters headed for Dens Park expecting a festive feast. Ninety desperate minutes later, they trudged out lamenting a lack of goalmouth action. Last season, both sides set the bar high with a thrilling 3-3 draw in the City of Discovery in September before Ross County thumped Dundee 5-2 at home on Boxing Day. The Dark Blues gained revenge with a 5-2 home win of their own in April of this year. They kicked off the current campaign with a 3-1 win for Dundee in the Highlands. While there were chances on Saturday, County’s Christopher Routis and Dundee’s Marcus Haber both squandered golden opportunities to grab all three points. Dundee also had keeper Scott Bain to thank for a wonderful save from Alex Schalk. For County attacker Michael Gardyne, the uncharacteristic stalemate came down to the tension created by just four points separating Kilmarnock in sixth place and Partick at the bottom. ‘Last season, there were lots of goals between the teams and this result shows just how tight the league is,’ said Gardyne after his side stretched their unbeaten run to five games. ‘Four points separate top six and bottom. A win would have put us in the top six. ‘There have been so many draws this season and no team is pulling away, bar the top four. ‘It’s looking like you’ll need to finish top six to make sure of avoiding the play-offs. It could be that tight until the end of the season. ‘I think every team is a bit wary because of that. ‘But we still went for the win and created a few chances that we could have scored. Their keeper made a good save from Schalk. Dundee were good but we deserved to win.’ Liam Boyce thought he’d opened the scoring for County when he headed Gardyne’s cross past Bain but the flag was up for a push on Darren O’Dea. Dundee youngster Craig Wighton then came close with a dipping shot before Bain made his terrific save from Schalk’s header. But County’s coaching team had their heads in their hands when Boyce put Routis clean through on goal, only for the Frenchman to drag his shot wide. Then Dundee’s Kevin Gomis picked out Haber in the box, only for the Canadian to wildly slice his shot. ‘I’m disappointed because I fancied myself to score from that position,’ sighed Haber. ‘We’ve turned the corner recently. We’ve found a way of playing that suits us but we have to improve. ‘We’ve got Celtic away at the weekend but you can’t afford to approach any game as a Mission Impossible. ‘We’re all professionals and are going to do the best we can to get a result. DUNDEE (3-5-2): Bain 6; O’Dea 7, Gomis 6, Gadzhalov 6; Kerr 7, Curran 6 (El Bakhtaoui 58), Hateley 6 (Vincent 85), McGowan 6, Holt 6; Wighton 6, Haber 5. Subs not used: Mitchell, Duffy, Loy, Williams, Ross. Booked: McGowan, Gadzhalov. ROSS COUNTY (4-2-3-1): Fox 6; Fraser 6, Davies 6, McEveley 6, van der Weg 6; Routis 5, Chow 6; Dingwall 6 (Franks 77), Boyce 6, Gardyne 6 (Dow 62); Curran 6 (Schalk 61). Subs not used: McCarey. Quinn, McShane, Dykes. Booked: Boyce, Dow, McEveley. Referee: Euan Anderson. Attendance: 4,742. Man of the match: Cammy Kerr.