Dundee 0
Queen of the South 0
League (Division One)

Match Report

The top match of the First T Division fizzled out in a dreary goalless draw as Queen of the South left with a point that clearly suited them more than Dundee.

The Dark Blues were missing Leigh Griffiths (confiscated by the big boys of the SFA for bench duty with the under 21s), and Brian Kerr from their recent starting line-ups. Colin McMenamin was also on the bench with Patrick Clarke starting his first league game for Dundee, and Colin Cameron coming into the midfield, Gary Harkins came back into the midfield after illness had meant he was a substitute last week.

Jocky Scott set out Dundee in an unfamiliar 3-5-2 line up, with Paton and Forsyth as wing backs and Paul McHale in a sitting midfield role behind the more adventurous central midfielders Cameron and Harkins.

It took a while for Dundee to settle down to this formation. Too often the players gravitated to the left, leaving Eric Paton with a huge amount of ground to cover up and down the right. Queens were happy to sit in and stifle the game, and resisted the temptation to attack the empty space behind Paton.

Neither side created a good chance in the whole game, and both keepers' shirts could just have been ironed and put away in the cupboard for next week. Dundee looked at their best when they held possession and probed for openings. Unfortunately they were too keen to try passes worthy of winning the World Cup, when they should have been keeping moves going by simple passes to players running into space. Gary Harkins was particularly guilty of this in the first half when he was largely ineffectual in the middle of the park. However, his passing and running improved greatly after half time, and he looked the player most likely to open up the Queen's defence.

Unfortunately Paul McHale hurt himself when he slipped and twisted with no-one near him just after half time. He tried to keep going, but had to limp off to be replaced by Richie Hart. The midfield had been threatening to take charge of the game, but this change disrupted the team and left Dundee disjointed and lightweight in midfield.

Last season Gary Mackenzie was bullied by the big and burly Derek Holmes in a game against St Johnstone at Dens, but today he handled the physical threat impeccably. Dundee's three man defence was rarely in trouble, and the wing backs were able to spend most of the game pressing forward.

No-one played badly for Dundee today. However, we were missing the two players who, in my opinion, have been our best performers over the last few weeks, Griffiths and Kerr, and no-one stepped up to the mark with a match-winning performance. Harkins threatened in the second half, but it was one of those days when nice touches, passes and runs didn't translate into a goal or a clear chance for one of the strikers. Clarke and Higgins tried their hardest, but never got the right balls at the right times

It is disappointing that Dundee couldn't maintain the standard they needed in the absence of key players, but Queen of the South may be kicking themselves later in the season that they didn't go harder for a win against an under-strength Dundee.

A draw was a fair result, not surprisingly in a match without clear chances. Eddie Malone was the sponsor's man of the match. I'd have gone for Eric Paton, who had a very sound game in a formation that could have left him badly exposed.

This was a huge let-down for a top of the table match, but at least Dundee are right up at the top and can look forward to the return of the injured players and Leigh Griffiths whose pace, skill and invention were badly missed today.

Match report written by James Christie - Official Dundee website