Dumbarton and Dundee fought out a 0-0 draw in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup at the Cheaper Insurance Direct Stadium on Saturday.
The Ladbrokes Premiership side were largely dominant but their Championship opponents defended resolutely to earn a replay at Dens Park.
The visitors started the game with real purpose and nearly went in front after just four minutes.
Greg Stewart found room on the edge of the box and fired a crisp left footed strike which cannoned off Jamie Ewings' right hand post, before the Sons goalkeeper smothered the rebound from Rory Loy.
The Dark Blues heaped pressure on Dumbarton in the early stages with the home side struggling to cope. Gary Harkins was next to threaten with an effort from long range but it went wide.
Dumbarton grew into the game after a shaky start. Their main threat came from Christian Nade, on his Sons debut after completing a move from Hamilton.
The French striker won a free-kick 30 yards from goal just before the half hour mark, his presence prevented Darren O'Dea clearing Tom Walsh's delivery but Darren Barr's shot from the rebound was blocked.
Dundee thought they had broken the deadlock after 36 minutes after Loy played Kane Hemmings through on goal. The striker lifted the ball over the onrushing Ewings and it was heading for the net before an impressive goal-line clearance from Mark Docherty.
The pitch cut up badly in the second half, making for conditions which were never going to be conducive to free-flowing football.
Dundee continued to have the bulk of the play but the sizeable away support were growing increasingly restless at the lack of clear-cut chances being created.
Hemmings had the ball in the net after 56 minutes after being played through on goal - but the linesman's flag was quickly up.
Dumbarton's Tom Walsh showed good skill on the wing soon after to skip past challenges from Paul McGowan and Paul McGinn - but his cross was just out of Nade's reach.
The hosts enjoyed a good spell in the middle of the second half, Docherty curled a right footed effort just wide in the 64th minute.
It was turning into a frustrating day for Paul Hartley's side, with set-pieces seeming the best route for them to breach Sons' well organised defence.
Harkins was close to doing so as he stooped to head a Stewart corner but his effort flew just over the bar, before substitute Arturo spurned a golden opportunity for the Dens Park side minutes after coming on.
Loy's square ball set up the Spaniard - but he scuffed his effort straight at Ewings.
Both teams pressed for a winner into the closing stages with the hosts putting in some dangerous crosses and Kevin Holt and Stewart going close for Dundee - but it ended goalless.
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