St Mirren 0
Dundee 0
League (Premier Division)

Match Report

Newspaper extract from The Courier.

Much of the effort from both teams was concentrated on denying the opposition the freedom to manoeuvre in midfield, and the blank score sheet testifies to the success of these tactics.

Dundee had less of the ball than the home side but often looked more likely to score because their forwards played more directly and with sufficient confidence to try for goal once they got within shooting range.

This away point keeps them in a comfortable mid-table position. St Mirren's forwards, by comparison, never appeared to have the confidence to try much by way of individual raiding and always preferred to move as a pack.

They delayed until they were strong enough in numbers before laying on an onslaught.

Unfortunately for them, this provided Fraser, Smith and McDonald the necessary time to cover when danger threatened.

The game threw up little of individual brilliance and the sudden and regular arrival of heavy showers did not make for an inspiring occasion.

St Mirren had the benefit of an early goalmouth escape to provide them with a swift intro duction to reality. Then, with a couple of minutes gone, there was an unscheduled appearance on the field by a black mongrel, which contrived to hold up play on three separate occasions.

A member of the St Mirren ground staff arrived on the scene with a length of rope long enough and strong enough to suggest a lynching party was about to take place. It didn't and the dog was led quietly away.

Early in the first half Dundee's efforts against the breeze carried considerable danger for the home defence, then once more the dog of the earlier incident was back on the field joining in.

Eventually the police took over and the canine's brief spell of notoriety was at its end. Back to the game once more and a corner by Ian Scanlon landed on the bar above Kelly, but the danger was really short lived.

In the opening half hour St Mirren had troubled the Dundee keeper on only a couple of occasions.

With the gale supporting them this wasn't a good omen for the Paisley men, who were being supplied with plenty of the ball but were distinctly short of ideas on how to overcome the solid Dundee defence.

The interval arrived with no scoring, then, on the resumption, a fine 20-yard free kick from Fulton was well held by Kelly and raised hopes of better things to come.

However, the overall display was not of an inspiring kind and it began to appear as if both sides were mostly anxious not to concede a goal.

Ian Ferguson came on for the last 15 minutes, Murphy making way for him. The substitute came close to snatching a win for Dundee with only a few minutes left for play.

A ball sent in from the left was missed by centre-back Fulton. It was such an unexpected opportunity that Ferguson could only manage to hit a token shot when he tried a quick piece of finishing, and in the end the danger was easily cleared.