Match Report
Thistle manager Ian McCall had thought that, Damon Gray and Stephen McKeown aside, he had a full squad to select from for this fixture. His plans, however, were upset when a groin injury picked up in training ruled out Alan Archibald. It hardly helped in terms of defensive options either than Ian Maxwell rated 50:50 to take up a place in the team wasn't ruled fit enough to play. Simon Storey though feeling the affects of a flu bug was able to play with Ricky Little, freshly returned from three months on loan with Queen's Park, listed on the bench to provide some defensive cover.
Dundee were first to threaten and Jonny Tuffey was called into action inside the first minute but made a comfortable save from Bryan Deasley's low shot.
Tuffey was altogether more stretched in the 4th minute when he did well to tip a shot from the edge of the box from Antoine-Curier over the bar for a Dundee corner.
Thistle won their first corner in the 8th minute and although Marc Twaddle was able to get his head to Paton's corner he was unable to keep his header down and the ball cleared Douglas' crossbar with some comfort.
It was through a little more encouraging after a slow start and a powerful run from Kevin McKinlay presented Liam Buchanan was a half chance but Buchanan wasn't able to direct his header from McKinlay's left wing cross on target.
With the Thistle fans starting to provide some excellent vocal support a Marc Twaddle run up the left hand side raised hopes only for Douglas to produce a timely interception to snuff out any danger.
In what was shaping up to be quite an open game Jonny Tuffey had to look lively on the quarter hour mark to grab hold of an Andrew Shinnie shot from the edge of the Thistle box.
After a bright opening 15 minutes or so the game settled into a scrappy rhythm with both sides wasteful when in possession of the ball.
Liam Buchanan as ever was working hard and his persistence in the 33rd minute earned Thistle a corner but Willie Kinniburgh was well off target with his header from Paul Paton's corner.
In the 37th minute Willie Kinniburgh earned himself a yellow card following a late lunge on Andrew Shinnie but from the free kick that followed Antoine-Curier was well off target as Dundee failed to punish Thistle further for Kinniburgh's indiscretion.
With that yellow card clearly playing on Kinniburgh's mind he couldn't risk another mistimed tackle as Williams burst into the Thistle box but the Dundee player's cut back was cleared as the game began to draw towards the end of first half that was looking increasingly unlikely to produce a goal.
With the game in first half injury time Antoine-Curier glanced a Shinnie corner wide of goal although Dundee's leading scorer's route to the ball appeared to be impeded by one of his own players.
After what had ultimately been a poor first half improvement was hoped for after the break and Thistle certainly started the second 45 minutes in positive fashion. In the half's first attack Gary Harkins pushed the ball into the path of Marc Twaddle who saw his shot deflected for a corner. When Dundee could only clear that corner to the edge of their penalty Douglas had to get down low to save David Rowson's deflected shot.
In the 50th minute Thistle were forced into making their first change of the afternoon with Willie Kinniburgh clearly feeling the affects of an injury being replaced by Simon Donnelly.
Before Donnelly had a chance to make any impact Thistle very nearly snatched a lead with Douglas pushing out a Buchanan header following a free kick on the Thistle left with the rebound scrambled clear for a corner as Thistle attempted to apply a finishing touch to the loose ball.
As the pressure mounted David Rowson was again unfortunate with a deflected effort, this one earning Thistle their 8th corner of the afternoon.
nAt the other end Jonny Tuffey enhanced his growing reputation with a fine save low to his left with Kevin McKinlay handily placed to knock the rebound out of immediate danger for a Dundee corner.
The action was coming as a fast and furious rate at the start of the second half and in the 54th minute Andrew Shinnie was unable to keep his final shot down after working himself into a promising position inside the Thistle box.
In the 59th minute Marc Twaddle pushed forward from his defensive berth and from fully 35 yards out lashed a shot that Douglas would have been happy to see head off target.
A Shinnie free kick picked out a late run into the Thistle box from Bryan Deasley in the 61st minute but his header was too high but the feeling that the game's opening goal wasn't too far away was starting to grow.
That goal should have arrived in the in the 63rd minute and would have done had it not been for a tremendous double save from Robert Douglas. He firstly kept out a header from Gary Harkins and when the rebound dropped invitingly to Mark Roberts the Dundee goalkeeper denied him too.
Simon Donnelly was next to test the home team's custodian but on this occasion his save from Donnelly's shot from 18 yards out was of a much more routine nature.
Hopes of a Thistle goal were raised again in the 72nd minute. Mark Roberts did well to set up Gary Harkins but when Harkins in turn tried to push the ball into the path of Liam Buchanan some six yards out his pass was just too strong and although Buchanan did manage to hook the ball back towards the Dundee goal the chance was gone.
Buchanan was able fire a shot towards goal in the 78th minute but his angle was always a tight one and he was unable to press Douglas into action on this occasion.
With just two minutes of the 90 remaining Dundee nearly snatched what surely would have been the game's winning goal. A Shinnie shot from 20 yards didn't initially look like troubling Jonny Tuffey but the Thistle keeper was forced to turn the shot round his post at the expense of a corner kick.
There was further anxiety in the Thistle ranks when Craig Forsyth rose to connect with a Daquin cross but despite some Dundee supporters thinking he had in fact scored his header hit the Thistle side netting.
