AS you were, then. Nothing lost and even less gained in the battle to beat the drop. No goals, few chances, and a missed opportunity for St Johnstone and Dundee.
On a nervy, utterly forgettable night, neither team showed anything to suggest they are in a false position in the doldrums of the league; and, on this evidence, they are distant doldrums on the teams above them at that.
At least bottom-placed St Johnstone ended their 10-game losing rot and kept the gap on their rivals to just two points. But it’s hard to argue that anyone left McDiarmid Park satisfied with what they'd just been forced to sit through.
With all the haste of a man desperately seeking a solution to an unsolvable problem, Callum Davidson sent out a goal scoring SOS during the week and Callum Hendry duly answered the call. Back from his relatively ‘prolific’ Kilmarnock loan spell - his five goals were more than the three the Saints starting XI had managed all season - he was in from the off, one of four changes from the Kelty Hearts debacle, and was arguably Saints only consistent threat.
Darting into the channels, pulling at the Dundee threads, and finding himself more than once in a dangerous position, he should have delivered the fairytale finish on a couple of occasions - least of all when he had just Adam Legzdins to beat - only for a lack of composure to rear its ugly head. In truth, that was symptomatic of a dire match.
That surrendering of their Scottish Cup had been greeted with all the fury you’d expect by the baying St Johnstone fans. At least they seemed ready to forgive and forget last night. With a noticeable buzz coming down from the stands, they asked their players to show them a reaction; or, at the very least, to look like there was some sort of plan beyond prayer to end the 10-game losing run.
Did they get it? Well, kind of. Enthusiasm and desire were in no short supply during the early stages, but the control was lacking. For every driving run made by Cammy MacPherson, there was an unmarked Jamie McCart kicking the ball straight into touch, and for all of Hendry’s attacking endeavour - he sent an effort well wide from an early corner, generously described as a “scissor kick” by the Saints Twitter - his teammates followed it up by failing to string two passes together for a worryingly long period of time.
In an awful first-half, the supporters’ patience was both required and tested. But St Johnstone weren’t the only culprits.
Dundee - who had huffed and puffed their way past League One strugglers Dumbarton on Saturday - weren’t exactly giving anyone reason to stay up for the Sportscene highlights. They struggled to find any sort of rhythm, seemingly content to sit in and escape McDiarmid Park with the two-point gap over the Saints intact, and Paul McMullan harring off only to send a pass straight out of play with his heels just about summed it up.
As the first-half grew, so too did the frustration. Nadir Ciftci limped off after just 10 minutes and Hendry miscued that effort wide, before McCart sent a header down Adam Legzdins’ throat. A Max Anderson drive straight into Clark’s midriff was as good as it got for the visitors.
One of the few bright spots had been the typically combustible MacPherson, a player of such unpredictable talent it’s a wonder if he knows what’s coming next. Playing in the middle of the Saints midfield, he’d been the only one trying to grab the game by the scruff of the neck.
The match needed more of that sort of thing, so it was no surprise to see Charlie Adam and Niall McGinn - on for his Dundee debut - summoned from the bench after less than five minutes of more directionless, helter-skelter play in the second-half.
Adam duly delivered a calmness that had been so sorely lacking and very nearly stole the three points at the death when he slalomed his way into the Saints box and fired the ball across goal. Liam Gordon threw himself at the ball and somehow cleared it into touch.
It would have been a result neither team deserved.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here