With Giorgi Nemsadze failing a late fitness test it was always going to be difficult without our phenomenal playmaker. And so it turned out. Dundee turned on their most inept performance of the season so far and will be delighted to come back from Glasgow with a point. They have now gone 4 games without a defeat but this could so easily have been one today.
Full credit to Partick. They’re short on money and resources, but their players fight for one another as a unit. Not always pretty to watch they gave the ball away as often as Dundee did, but they did create the most clear cut chances by a mile, hit woodwork twice. Dundee had three good efforts that troubled Arthur in the entire 90 minutes, with Novo almost completely snuffed out of the game.
The first 15 minutes of the game were shocking. Neither team could string three passes together and the game was very scrappy with neither keeper being called on to make a save.
The first chance for Dundee came when Lovell and Novo combined to give Caballero a shooting chance out on the left. He tries to steer the ball inside the near post when a shot to the other side looked the right option and Arthur saves easily.
Partick win a free kick just outside the box and a fiercely struck shot is brilliantly parried for a corner by Speroni.
A Gavin Rae shot looks like it might trouble Arthur but Novo gets a toe on the end of it, only managing to steer the ball over the bar when a goal looked on.
In what was perhaps his only mistake of the match Lee Wilkie misses a cross from the right and a goal looks on. Speroni manages to claw the ball on to the junction of the crossbar and post and out for a corner to the relief of all in dark blue.
Arthur is finally called into action and has to look lively to tip a Novo shot past the post after good play by Rae, but the linesman’s flag was up anyway and the goal would not have stood.
Partick take the lead and it’s a comedy of errors in the Dundee rearguard. A harmless looking through ball is left by several defenders and when a Partick player finds himself clear in on Speroni, the Argentine keeper dives at his feet to smother the ball, only to allow it to squirm out of his grasp leaving the Partick player with the easiest of tasks to roll the ball home
Lee Wilkie is booked for a late tackle, followed soon after by a strange booking for Hernandez. It’a a corner for Partick, no player near Jonay when he seems to give one of the goalposts a gentle nudge with the toe of his boot. The yellow card is shown by Mr. Freeland, presumably for foul play against a goalpost.
This had been a dreadful half for Dundee and Partick weren’t really much better. The fact that they seemed to fight harder for every 50-50 ball just gave them a slight edge and they probably deserved to go in at the interval 1-0 up. Dundee’s midfield had been a disaster as far as any creative play was concerned. Brady was very ineffective, Smith won a lot of balls but gave it away too easily, only Rae was looking like he was in the mood to go forward. Up front, Caballero and Novo were mere shadows of their usual selves, and Lovell was doing plenty of running to no avail.
If Dundee were poor in the first half, the second half performance was even worse. Partick are taking the game to Dundee and look much more likely to score a second. As so often happens in football, though, it is Dundee, not in the game, who race upfield to grab a fine equaliser.
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Rae finds himself in space outside the box. He makes a run towards Caballero who cheekily back heels the ball into the path of GAVIN RAE again and he steers a left foot shot into the far corner of the net to bring the game all square once again.
For a spell Dundee look like they might go on to win the match, Caballero firing just past from a very tight angle on the right after good leading up work by Lovell and Rae.
Partick should have scored when a superb cross is met by the head of a Partick player. The ball cannons off the bar and is cleared desperately by Dundee.
Sara comes on to replace a very tired looking Caballero and his first touch almost produces a goal for the away side. Chesting the ball down superbly he then neatly beats his man in the box and shoots from a tight angle only for Arthur to pull off a great save, palming the ball past for a corner.
Dundee’s last chance comes when Novo finally seems to have eluded his markers and is racing towards the box. A reckless challenge fells him to the ground and a free kick is awarded on the very edge of the box. Nacho takes the free kick himself but fires it well over the bar from a very good scoring opportunity.
Partick take the game to the Dundee end in the closing minutes and another shot doesn’t miss the target by much.
The biggest cheer of the day comes 1 minute from time when Chic Charnley makes an appearance and is warmly applauded by both sets of fans.
By far the poorest game I’ve watched Dundee play in so far this season, this was a dreadful performance, but gains them a point that might be crucial in the season ahead.
GOAL JULIAN SPERONI – Think he would blame himself partly for the goal, he got a hand to the ball but lost it again. His kicking was also very poor today. Still had a couple of good saves to make and showed good handling. BACK 4 – DAVE MACKAY – Had a mixed kind of day, some good tackling and interceptions, some good overlapping. But at times he was taken to the cleaners by his opponent. LEE WILKIE – Thank goodness for big Lee, thanks to him Dundee gained a point. He missed one ball in the entire game and turned on a strong, physical performance with some neat skill on display as well. TOM HUTCHINSON – Had his most ineffective game for the colours since joining us recently. Hesitant, lacking in confidence at times, he wasn’t a shadow of the player he had been against Livvy and United. Still had good moments, but not enough of them. JONAY HERNANDEZ – Had an excellent game, one of the few who did on the day. He had a competitive edge to his game that few others did, and he always tried to use the ball positively and with vision that was lacking throughout the team today. MIDFIELD – GARRY BRADY – His contribution to the game was minimal. It’s understandable as he’s well short on match fitness, and perhaps this was why Jim Duffy gave him a full game. But he failed to carve out much in the way of chances or do much that was exciting or positive. BARRY SMITH – Has been effective in midfield recently when given a role to mark a dangerous opponent or play a holding role in the centre of midfield. But in Giorgi’s absence he was asked to become more of a creator in midfield and quite simply that’s a task beyond Barry’s capabilities. GAVIN RAE – Had a good few strong runs at the Partick defence and at times got himself into more dangerous positions than the 3 strikers. His 1-2 with Caballero was excellent and he took his goal superbly well. Two goals in two games, perhaps Gav’s found the scoring touch at last. STRIKERS – STEVIE LOVELL – Certainly put himself about and he was involved in most of the moves that got us close to goal, not that there were many. He still hasn’t found his feet yet and at times looks lost and devoid of ideas. But he’s young and keen and who knows, he may yet become a hero at Dens. FABIAN CABALLERO – Not a shadow of the player we watched on Wednesday night or against United, still he featured in the goal with a neat bit of skill and also came close with a good drive from a tight angle. The fans were not happy when he was subbied for Juan Sara. NACHO NOVO – Man marked the entire game he was never given the time or space to do much in this match and with poor service coming from midfield he got little chance to shine. Having said that he did get a shot on target in the first half and I’d have put money on his scoring when he was heading for goal only to be hacked down on the edge of the box. JUAN SARA – His first touch almost produced a goal, then he proceeded to do little else. To be fair Dundee had resorted to belting long balls out of defence, this seemed to be the main game plan second half, and with Nemsadze missing we had no one to slow it down and produce openings. So it was back to the old punt it up the park tactic, boring to watch, and most ineffective.