Partick Thistle 0 Dundee 0

Published on Saturday 4 October 2008 20:02

NEITHER side showed adventure or ingenuity to break two stubborn defences in a match which would rightly deserve the tag of "bore draw".

Dundee, only capable of fielding four substitutes on the bench because of an injury crisis, almost snatched a dramatic early lead when Freddy Daquin swung over a corner from the right which was met perfectly by the head of Craig McKeown. However, Jags defender Paul Paton was well placed on the near post to clear.

The injury-ravaged Dark Blues, with manager Alex Rae forced to name himself as a trialist substitute, showed a positive approach and almost capitalised on a mistake by David Rowson. Chris Pozniak put Mark Gilhaney away on the left, his cutback picking out Daquin, but the Frenchman blasted over from 16 yards.

Ian McCall's Partick side gradually claimed the ascendancy and Simon Donnelly took a pass from Gary Harkins before shooting narrowly wide of Rab Douglas' right-hand post.

Dundee almost broke the deadlock on the hour amidst a blaze of controversy after referee Eddie Smith allowed Mikael Antoine-Curier to break free on the right after the Dens man had clearly handled the ball.

The striker found Bob Davidson in excellent position on the edge of the area but his shot was cleared off the line by Simon Storey.

It was as close as either side got as the match petered out in a drab stalemate.