Dundee 1
Meadowbank Thistle 1
League Cup (Group 3)

Match Report

Newspaper extract from The Courier.

Dundee's League Cup hopes took a real body blow last night when they failed to beat their First Division opponents.

A meagre crowd of 1853 could hardly believe the transformation as Thistle, a goal down in the first half and glad of that margin, came back to equalise eight minutes from time.

Dundee did one of their fadeout acts and even though the strong wind played a part in the tale of two halves it was no excuse for the home side surrendering the initiative.

Dundee should have had this tie well sewn up in the first half. Chances galore were scorned by finishing as wild as the wind. Cammy Fraser's goal should have calmed things down, but it didn't.

Dundee have no excuses. They now face an uphill task in their remaining two games against St Johnstone (away) and Aberdeen (home).

Dundee, already without Lex Richardson and Walker McCall, had yet another call-off. Defender Iain McDonald was out with achilles tendon trouble.

Youth cap Rab Shannon made his debut for the home side with another youngster Colin McGlashan on the bench.

With the aid of wind and slope Dundee were soon swarming down on giant keeper McQueen.

Fraser sent a 20-yard free kick over the bar, centre-half Smith had a shot deflected during a goalmouth scramble, and Ferguson saw a flashing header go wide.

But Thistle survived, putting up a solid yellow wall. They were also fortunate that so far all Dundee's efforts had been off the target.

A fierce but wide shot from Ferguson in the 18th minute was another let-off for the visitors.

A few forays by Meadowbank brought little danger to Dundee. The home side at last got in a decent scoring effort when a tremendous 30 yarder from Mackie hit the top of the bar and went over.

However, Dundee's domination finally paid off in 29 minutes. Ferguson tapped a 19-yard free kick to his right, and skipper Fraser shot low and true into the corner of the net for his first goal of the season.

Ex-Dens Parker Tom Hendrie, limping, was replaced by Smith for Thistle soon afterwards.

Far from opening the flood gates Dundee's goal seemed to lead to more mistakes. Mackie failed to take advantage of a pass-back error when another goal looked certain.

Then, near half-time Kidd fastened on to a Mackie cross and, under pressure, shot over from around 8 yards.

Dundee buzzed around at the start of the second half, but without any sting. Ferguson raced through the middle, pursued by two defenders, only to shoot wildly past the post.

Meadowbank, much more ambitious in attack now, forced Geddes to dash out of his goal and out of the box to rob Tomassi of the ball.

The visitors then brought on their second sub, Lawson for Burrell, and for the first time in the match forced a scramble in front of Geddes, during which a close in shot was blocked.

Dundee were much more ragged now and had far fewer chances. Home frustration was typified by a rash tackle by Ferguson on Dunn. It brought the striker a booking. Two shots by Thistle's Smith weren't far off the mark, a reminder that the home lead was precarious.

This was followed by the best effort yet from the visitors when a cracking shot by Boyd forced Geddes to dive full length and turn the ball round the post.

The home fans were decidedly restless and feared the worst. It came with only eight minutes left when Thistle grabbed the equaliser.

A good goal too. Out on the left Korotkich swung over a cross which Tomassi met perfectly to head past Geddes.

A late series of attacks by desperate Dundee came to naught. They had dropped a vital point.