Dundee suffered a damaging home defeat to Partick Thistle with a Brian Graham double earning victory for the Jags.
The Dark Blues bid to chase down leaders Queen’s Park continues to stumble and stutter with the Spiders now boasting a four-point lead at the top after 26 games each.
Performances had been positive of late but the wins – and goals – hadn’t been coming with only two victories registered in the Championship since the turn of the year.
This performance wasn’t a positive one, however, with Dundee ponderous in possession and lacking in energy.
Thistle dominated the ball but without creating much until Graham pounced in the six-yard box to make it 1-0 on 42 minutes.
He doubled the lead and his tally for the night on 75 minutes, once more knocking home from close range from a corner.
Dundee would cut the deficit five minutes later through Jordan McGhee but immediately fell two goals behind once more as Harry Milne ran through to make it 3-1 less than a minute later.
First half
The opening 45 minutes was as poor as Dundee have been all season.
Partick Thistle had more energy, more intent and far, far more possession.
They were pressing high and giving the Dark Blues nothing easy. But Dundee weren’t helping themselves either, too many hopeful balls played forward and not much coming off.
The quality wasn’t there to cut through the press with Zach Robinson a pretty lonely figure up top.
Despite their troubles with the ball, they weren’t giving the Jags many openings. The visitors had plenty of the ball but few efforts on goal.
Until a little bit of luck fell Brian Graham’s way, a number of bodies going up to meet a corner kick and the ball dropping goalwards at the feet of the striker.
Partick deserved the lead, however. And Dundee had earned the boos that greeted the half-time whistle.
It got better in the second period but not by much.
Brian Graham
The former Dundee United man is anything but a favourite at Dens Park and this showing only cemented his villain status.
Graham was in the right place at the right time in the first half to open the scoring, seizing on a loose ball to fire home.
However, Dundee will argue he shouldn’t have been on the pitch to knock in the goal for 2-0.
A clash in midfield left Cammy Kerr and Graham in a heap before the pushing and shoving started.
The Dark Blues wanted a red card for Graham’s challenge but only a yellow appeared from Don Robertson.
The striker stayed on and fired home from close range once more on 75 minutes.
New faces
It may have been almost a month since the transfer deadline shut but tonight saw the full debuts of two January signings in Ryan Clampin and Luke Hannant.
An injury in training had hampered Hannant while Clampin was on the end of a hefty challenge after coming off the bench at Hamilton at the start of February.
And it was very much a Colchester United left flank as the two loanees combined down that side.
Hannant showed some bright flashes, won some free-kicks with some tricky footwork and gave another option from set-pieces. But not much came off.
Clampin, meanwhile, only got one chance to open up his legs and run at the defence. With his team needing a goal, the full-back sprang between three men and ran into the area but blazed over.
Some positive moments but nowhere near enough to lift a drab night for the Dee.
Table
What a good night for Queen’s Park, and they didn’t even have to get off their settees.
Four points in front at this stage of this season is a big lead.
We are into the business end of the campaign now, just 10 matches to go for both sides.
There will be twists and turns yet to come but this was a poor night for Dundee at a time they could least afford it.
Partick Thistle are also now just three points behind Gary Bowyer’s side, along with Ayr and Morton.
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