Dundee 1
Dumbarton 1
League (Premier Division)

Match Report

Dumbarton had made a good start to their only taste of the Premier Division. They arrived at Dens with 8 points from 11 games - a point ahead of their hosts with Hibs and Morton propping up the table.

Manager Archie Knox rang the changes in the home ranks after a disappointing 2-0 defeat at Easter Road the previous week.

Bobby Glennie, Walker McCall and Lex Richardson dropped out of the side and were replaced by Ray Stephen, Colin Harris and Derek McWilliams.

After a 3-1 win over Morton which was followed up by a goalless draw at Ibrox - remember these were pre-Souness days - the Sons under Davie Wilson's managership arrived with an air of confidence.

Unfortunately, the visitor's tactics did not win much approval form the 4375 fans as they looked for a repeat of their successful iron curtain strategy at Ibrox.

Whilst Archie Knox men continued to pour forward, for too long they just didn't have the ingenuity to break down the Sons' tight defensive unit.

Against that background, it was with some anguish and frustration that Dundee fans saw their team fall behind after nine minutes, especially as it was about their only foray into opposition territory!

Joe Coyle was the man who did the damage, opening up the Dundee defence which was caught lying square. His crisp pass found Kenny Ashwood in the left hand channel and he beat his former team-mate Tom Carson with a superb low grounder from 18 yards.

That was the signal for the home side to lay siege on the visitors goal. Dundee had so much of the ball, it appeared they had to win.

But too often they pumped it high into the area which was meat and drink to a side which had enough six footer plus to do well at basketball! On the rare occasions when good chances were created they fell to Colin Harris who had a real off day in front of goal.

First he contrived to shoot past from three yards from a Tosh McKinlay assist after the defender had dribbled past half the Sons team.

Then the former Raith striker headed straight at Gordon Arthur from a similar range after Stewart Forsyth had supplied the cross.

The fact that ref Louie Thow was strict in playing several minutes extra time - fully justified in view of some of the blatant time wasting which the visitors had indulged in - was a source of annoyance for the small band of Sons fans at the game.

On the evidence of what had gone on before, they shouldn't have needed to worry, but in the 93rd minuted Dundee struck.

Or more specifically, substitute Jim Smith did. The defender's speculative shot from the edge of the box dipped in at the top corner to give the Dark Blues a deserved share of the points.

It was effectively the last kick of a game which will, in truth, only be recalled for that late intervention by an unlikely goal scoring hero.

Match report written by Matchday Programme