St Mirren 1
Dundee 2
League (Premier Division)

Match Report

Newspaper extract from The Courier.

Just for a moment at Paisley, it looked like being the old, old story for Dundee. A tale of missed chances-a solitary goal to show for vast first-half superiority-and a fortunate St Mirren equaliser must have had Archie Knox thinking, "Oh, no, not again," as he watched from the Love Street stand.

Previously in such circumstances this season, Dundee hadn't an answer. This time, however, they responded by going straight up the park to score again, thus securing two precious points with a 2-1 win.

Anything less would have been an injustice. This reshuffled Dark Blues side was simply streets ahead of Saints in terms of character and determination and with Rangers' season still apparently on a downward spiral, they must have a great chance of that European place.

Jock Wallace's men are three points better off than Dundee, who have a game in hand, while Saints are four points behind the Dens Parkers, with two games in hand.

Their manager, Alex. Millar, however, conceded, "Though there is still a long way to go, it's better to have the points in the bag."

Dundee deserve the highest praise for this performance. Without the injured Connor, McKinlay and Brown and with Stephen and McCormack asked to play a part in the proceedings despite being less than 100% fit, on paper the bookies looked to have got it right in making Saints favourites. How wrong they were.

Dundee responded magnificently. Graham Harvey's turning and shielding of the ball gave the opposing defenders no end of problems.

Stewart Forsyth impressed again at right-back and Rab Shannon was outstanding at left-back.

Stuart Rafferty worked hard, Bobby Geddes proved once more that he's one of the best keepers around, Vince Mennie had a quiet but effective game in midfield and Ray Stephen was quite superb.

Stephen, his two goals apart, was also in regular attendance at the back, making several important clearances out of defence before having to limp off with a recurrence of his groin problem.

His replacement was young Steve Campbell who showed plenty of enthusiasm and one or two fine touches in his debut for the club.

"Ray was slightly fitter than Tosh McKinlay, so we risked him and he did really well," said Archie Knox.

Stephen's opening goal was a cracker. His 20-yard drive from a McWilliams cross laid back by Rafferty gave Money no chance, but it was amazing that this solitary counter was all Dundee had to show for their first-half dominance.

Colin Hendry could have had a hat-trick with two headers coming back off the woodwork and hesitancy on the youngster's part coming to Saints' rescue when he was clean through on Money. The. home keeper also saved well from McWilliams and Mennie.

Geddes distinguished himself with several fine stops but was left stranded midway through the second half when a Spiers shot struck Mennie and spun into the net.

A minute later, however, Dundee were back in front when Stephen turned home a cross from Derek McWilliams, who also had a fine afternoon.

"Considering the circumstances with the injury problems we had it was a great result," said Archie Knox, "In fact that's the first win I've had at Love Street as manager of Dundee or indeed when I was assistant boss at Aberdeen."

That the match went ahead at all, however, was surprising. After local referee Alan Ferguson had declared the pitch playable on Saturday morning. Saints issued a radio appeal for volunteers to help clear six inches of snow from the surface.

They did a remarkable job and although the area just in front of the stand looked tricky, Alex. Miller claimed after- wards, "Dundee didn't want the game played but the park was playable, certainly in better condition than Dens Park was for their Scottish Cup tie with Airdrie.

Archie Knox used the world "lottery" when asked for his assessment of conditions but it certainly wasn't luck that won the day for his side.

Saints, who have taken only two points from their last four games, missed the suspended Neil Cooper but their manager wasn't making excuses.

"We were second to every ball and Dundee could have scored more," admitted Miller.