According to those tried and tested footballing clichés that have been around since a planning application was first put in to build Dumbarton Castle, attack is the best form of defence. But when you’re constantly on the defensive, it’s difficult to mount an attack. For good chunks of Saturday’s William Hill Scottish Cup fifth round encounter against Dundee, Dumbarton’s defenders were embroiled in the kind of hectic, backs-to-the-wall activity that would’ve made Custer’s Last Stand look like a retrievable situation.

In the end, a 0-0 draw with the team sitting sixth in the Premiership, and the reward of a replay up at Dens Park next week, was a deserved outcome for Stephen Aitken’s hard-working, organised and spirited side. Tom Walsh is the loan Ranger in the Dumbarton ranks and the Troon teenager, who has been farmed out by the Ibrox club until the summer, has perhaps been tempted to re-hash that aforementioned old chestnut about attacking and defending. Maybe defence is the best form of defence?

“My defending is something that I need to work on but I’m having to put in more of a shift for the team here at Dumbarton and that’s a side of my game that’s improving,” said the 19-year-old midfielder. “I think I’ve certainly come on since coming here and I think I’ll go back to Rangers a better player in the summer.”

There wasn’t much scope for Walsh to do much damage at the other end of the park as Dundee dominated affairs but, in an industrious display of honest endeavour, he did cause the visitors one or two anxious moments in the game’s latter stages with a couple of dangerous crosses into the box which new recruit, Christian Nade, nearly got on the end of.

“I put in a couple of crosses which were just inches from Christian's head but hopefully he'll start putting a few away and then that makes me look good,” added Walsh.

It was a true team display on Saturday with the young guns such as Walsh chipping into the war effort alongside seasoned front line campaigners like Darren Barr and Frazer Wright, who have both tasted Scottish Cup success with Hearts and St Johnstone respectively.

“Players like that know what it’s all about but the younger ones like myself and others can bring an intensity to the team so we've got a good balance,” noted Walsh. “It will be tough at Dens but we showed that we can compete so who knows. It's the cup, after all.”

Dundee have not won the cup since 1910 – Dumbarton lifted it themselves back in 1883 – but Paul Hartley’s men probably felt like they should have negotiated this particular obstacle at the first time of asking. Despite all their territorial dominance, the visitors couldn’t find a way through. Kane Hemmings had a little dink cleared off the line while Nick Ross clattered the post with a low drive and Rory Loy could only thump the rebound into the grateful grasp of the goalkeeper.

“I should have stuck the rebound away,” confessed Loy in the aftermath. “I think I was concentrating too much on the pitch and the manager said I should have put my foot through it. I just sclaffed it, which was unfortunate. It was another bad one after I had a poor miss last week, but strikers go through spells like that. I’ll tuck the next one away.”

The playing surface, saturated by heavy rain and developing the kind of divots and ruts you’d get at the Herald sport desk’s golf outing, was hardly conducive to tidy little passing manoeuvres and while Dundee tried to move the ball about, there was little end product.

“We dominated the game and we would have progressed if we’d shown a bit more quality in the final third,” added Loy. “You don’t want to play too many risky passes because you might get punished if you give the ball away in certain areas. You needed to take an easy touch, which gave Dumbarton the chance to get back in and sort their shape.”

These two will have to sort it out among themselves again next week.