Hartley unhappy with Dee display

Home draw lifts Dark Blues to seventh but still just three points off relegation play-off

The Premiership league table is perplexing. Well, the bottom half of it is at least. While champions-in-waiting Celtic stroll off into the sunset with a 27-point gap over second-placed Aberdeen which only looks like increasing, a mere four points separate sixth spot from 11th.

Even the solitary point Dundee got from drawing 1-1 at home to Kilmarnock at Dens Park on Saturday was enough to push them up three places in the table from 10th to seventh.

It is all making it harder to evaluate whether a result is good, bad or indifferent.

In the case of the Dark Blues, though, you can’t help but feel that they have thrown away four points by drawing in consecutive weeks against Inverness Caley Thistle and now Killie.

They have yet to win in 2017 yet they are just a point away from the top six.

They haven’t lost at home in the league since October 26 yet there they are just three points off the relegation play-off spot. Yes, it’s as clear as mud. On Saturday, Killie skipper Kris Boyd gave the visitors the lead on nine minutes but Dundee’s Kevin Holt made it 1-1 with 27 minutes on the clock.

There were plenty of chances for both sides in an often frantic affair but, aptly given the league table, there wasn’t anything between the teams at the end.

Holt felt Dundee should have done better than they did but acknowledged they maybe didn’t deserve to win.

He said: “A draw isn’t really a good result for us.

“We were 2-0 up on Inverness and then at home to Kilmarnock so we could have had six points instead of two.

“We would have been sitting in sixth place with a bit of cushion going into next weekend’s match against Rangers.

“Killie had deserved their lead but we got back into the game and it swung in our favour a bit.

“It was scrappy in the second half and either team could have won it. We wanted three points, obviously, and I don’t think one point was good for either of us.

“We wanted to push into the top six then get a wee gap between us and the other sides. Neither side was able to take that chance but we are still right in the mix for the top six.”

It was a quiet early period, with neither side threatening the opposition goal.

However, all that changed on nine minutes when Killie took the lead.

Boyd, looking on the stocky side, was still fit enough to beat a flat Dundee defence and run through on goal.

He played the ball around advancing keeper Scott Bain and, as defender Kevin Gomis tried in vain to clear, the ball went over the line without another touch from the former Rangers striker.

The Dens men needed a lift and they certainly got one on 27 minutes when they pulled themselves level.

A floating ball from the right from Cammy Kerr hung in the air and Killie goalie Freddie Woodman came off his line to try to cut it out.

However, Woodman was caught in no man’s land and the ball went through to Holt, who slid it into the net from 12 yards for a fine finish.

Holt took his goal well, even if Woodman didn’t exactly cover himself in glory.

The Dens full-back said: “I saw Cammy setting himself up on his left foot and they started forming up at the back. Maybe the goalie switched off a wee bit.

“He hesitated and I managed to sneak in and tap it into the empty net.”

Dundee boss Paul Hartley wasn’t satisfied with his team’s display.

He said: “We had opportunities but we didn’t pass the ball well enough.

“They probably had the better of the possession so we will take a point because we weren’t at our best.

“I think in the last two games we could have possibly had six points.

“I think those are the games you need to win, against the teams around you, if you want to try to get into the top six.

“Home games like this are vital for us but we didn’t perform at our best, to be honest with you.

“It was a good finish from Kevin and he came and supported the play very well.

“We had a few opportunities and few quality balls going in there.

“However, we just weren’t clinical enough. We also gave the ball away too many times.”

It was clear that Hartley felt it was two points dropped rather than one gained.

He added: “Between six or seven teams, it is really tight so now it’s about getting points first and then performances come second.

“These are the games from which you need to take three points.

“I think that’s six in the league unbeaten now but I just feel that in each game between now and the end of the season our aim should be to get the three points. We had an opportunity last week and we had another one this week.

“We didn’t take them and maybe that just sums the season up. We have six or seven clubs who are being inconsistent.

“I don’t know if the players were nervous – I don’t know why they would be. We have to perform better – that’s the key thing.”

“These are the games from which you need to take three points. PAUL HARTLEY