Dundee 1
Hamilton Academical 1
League (Premiership)

Match Report

Dundee and Hamilton fought out a tousy 1-1 draw this afternoon at a bitterly cold and windswept Dens Park. Martin Canning's late goal looked like winning the game for Accies. But a superb Greg Stewart equaliser earned the Dee a point in miserable conditions that made it hard to play good football.

Dundee made two changes, with David Clarkson and Alex Harris coming in for Gary Harkins and Iain Davidson. New loan signing Stephen McGinn was on the bench.

Just like last week the Dee were caught out by opponents hitting top gear right from the start. Accies were unlucky not to be ahead after only 24 seconds. That was how long it took for Crawford to race forward and make space for Andreu to run in on goal. The Accies' midfielder tried to curl the ball round Bain, but the young keeper made a wonderful save, touching the ball onto the inside of the post. Gary Irvine was happy to clear for a corner that created disarray in the home defence. The Dee escaped the scramble and the supporters breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Accies were determined to stamp their authority on the game with an early goal. They set up camp deep in the Dundee half and it was fully five minutes before the Dark Blues were able to cross the halfway line.

Once Dundee managed to settle down and take the game to Accies they looked fully capable of unsettling their defence. Accies were relieved to escape a goalmouth scramble at their end after Gadzhalov's header rebounded off Gary Irvine. Midway through the first half Dundee had a flurry of promising corners. From one Gadzhalov found space beyond the far post. Goalie McGovern parried his header and the ball pinged around the penalty area before being cleared.

Accies were the better side, showing good movement and running from an energetic midfield. Jason Scotland was highly effective, drawing on his vast experience and intelligent reading of the game to compensate for a lack of pace.

Hamilton went close twice towards the end of the first half. Player-manager Martin Canning headed a viciously inswinging corner over the bar from only a couple of yards out. Scotland then had space to shoot, but sliced a decent chance well wide.

The home fans greeted the half time whistle restlessly. The Dark Blues' performance had been sub-standard, but there was a general feeling of relief that the game was still level.

It was no suprise that Paul Hartley made changes at half time. Luka Tankulic and Stephen McGinn came on to replace David Clarkson and Kevin Thomson.

There had been an edge to the match in the first half and the second half quickly became truly bad tempered. Dougie Imrie made a run into the box and went down under pressure in a style that failed to impress referee Mr Allan and left the Accies players furious that they hadn't been awarded a penalty. Crawford was booked for his protests, but Imrie went too far shortly afterwards when he seemed to stamp on Greg Stewart while he was on the ground. Both the referee and the far side linesman saw the incident and Imrie was duly dismissed.

In between the controversies Accies again came close to taking the lead when Scotland ran clear onto a through pass only for Scott Bain to pull off another great save.

That was the last we saw from Accies in attack for a long spell as Dundee took charge. There was far better movement and passing from the Dark Blues, who were playing with an energy and intensity that forced Accies onto the back foot. The Dee may have served up plenty of good approach play during this prolonged siege, but too often the attacks petered out following a poor final ball or bad decision.

Stewart was on exciting form and beat three men in a great run in from the wing, but his shot clipped off a defender and flew wide. The Dark Blues were threatening to score with every attack, and Stewart went close again with a fierce shot from 20 yards.

Midway through the half Dundee made their final substitution when Craig Wighton replaced Alex Harris. The youngster was soon involved, giving Dyer room to send over a cross that McAlister headed inches wide.

Dundee kept pressing for a winner, but Accies' defence held up well under fierce pressure. Against the run of play, however, the visitors stunned Dundee by taking the lead after 85 minutes. Accies won a corner and Crawford hit a strong delivery to the far post where CANNING scored with a powerful header.

After battling in vain for so long to take the lead it seemed inevitable that Dundee's unbeaten run would come to an end. The players had other ideas and rescued a point with a magnificent equaliser after 88 minutes.

With Accies defending in depth Greg STEWART picked up the ball on the edge of the penalty area. He jinked one way and then the other till he'd fashioned the space to whip a delightful shot around McGovern, curling inside the post. After so much huffing and puffing around the Accies goal the equaliser was a moment of high class and beautiful simplicity.

Today was a horrible day to play football. There was a snell wind whistling around the ground and it's to the credit of all the players that they managed to play any decent football at all. However, it was a scrappy match with no shortage of mistakes. Both managers will be frustrated at failing to win. Accies could have won the match in the first half, but Dundee had much the better of the second. Martin Canning will be disappointed that his late opener didn't secure all the points. Similarly the Dundee camp will feel they should have killed Accies off when they seemed to be on the ropes after going down to 10 men.

Stephen McGinn had a tidy second half and the midfield as a whole was far more secure and effective after the break. Accies had far too much space in the middle of the park during the first half. Dundee put a stop to that in the second half, but today they just couldn't find the final piece of quality they needed to win. The exception to that was Greg Stewart's equaliser, and what a sublime exception that was!

Match report written by James Christie - Official Dundee website