Dundee 1 Partick Thistle 3: Doolan gives board food for thought

Here are three things we learned as the battle for promotion took another intriguing twist.

Doolan passes his audition

Kris Doolan’s first two matches as interim Thistle manager yielded four points and a pair of clean sheets and this was another encouraging performance from the Glasgow side that reaped three invaluable points.

Dens Park is one of the trickiest away-days in the division yet the visitors played with an impressive degree of control and assurance from the get-go. There was the odd hairy moment at the back and the occasional spell where their hosts asked some awkward questions but Thistle coped with the pressure admirably.

When the opening goal arrived shortly before half-time, few could contest that Thistle deserved it. Kyle Turner’s looping corner wasn’t cleared from the Dundee box and the ball fell kindly to the feet of Harry Milne, who quickly shifted the ball to Brian Graham to turn in from close range.

The second arrived from a corner, too, but this one was a touch more deliberate: Turner’s delivery on 75 minutes to the near post was flicked on by Connor McAvoy and Graham applied the finishing touch at the far post.

Jordan McGhee bundled home a close-range effort with just 10 minutes left to play but it proved to be little more than a false dawn for Dundee. Straight from the resulting kick-off, Scott Tiffoney slipped in Milne to restore his side’s two-goal advantage and secure the three points.

“I’m absolutely delighted and I am really proud of the players because this isn’t an easy place to come,” said Doolan. “[Dundee] are sitting in a lofty position in the league and for good reason.

“They have been three huge away games. I’m really proud of the players because these are games that people will look at and expect you to drop points. But the boys have stood up to the task.

“They didn’t come here and scrape through, they dominated from start to finish and we walk away with three points.”

Whether or not Doolan remains in the dugout for Saturday’s fixture at home to Raith Rovers remains to be seen but he has certainly not harmed his case to be given the gig on a permanent basis. Seven points gained from three testing away trips is a thoroughly respectable tally and he has certainly provided the Thistle board with plenty of food for thought as they ponder their next move.

Dundee fail to take advantage

As the team that were relegated from the top flight last term, Dundee were always going to be among the frontrunners to clinch the second-tier title this year. A win last night could have taken Gary Bowyer’s men to within a point of league leaders Queen’s Park but they were unable to capitalise on their game in hand over the Spiders.

Dundee struggled to get going against Thistle and the lack of a final ball was conspicuous by its absence. The Taysiders laboured as they attempted to break down their opponents and on the few occasions that they did, a mis-cued pass meant visiting goalkeeper Jamie Sneddon was rarely truly tested, save for the final few minutes when Dundee threw the kitchen sink at Thistle.

“Partick deserved it and they were better than us,” admitted Bowyer. “The performance came out of the blue, we played well on Saturday but we let Partick get into a rhythm.

“I asked the boys if something had happened at the weekend or some in-house fighting but they said no.

“One point from nine isn’t good enough and we told them that. The goals we conceded are atrocious.”

All to play for in race for promotion

The battle for promotion from the Championship is rarely a cut-and-dry affair and this season is no exception. Queen’s Park are in pole position at present but Owen Coyle’s side haven’t exactly been all-conquering of late, and they are still adapting to life without Simon Murray after the striker joined Ross County in the January transfer window.

Dundee are four points off the pace with 43 picked up so far this term, while Ayr, Morton and Thistle are all tied on 40 points. At least one of the quintet will miss out on the play-offs and it is difficult to say with any authority that the title is beyond any of them with 10 games left to play. Everyone will drop points, no one will run away with it and only one thing is guaranteed: the title race will be predictably unpredictable.