As a performance this was better than seven days ago.
It couldn’t fail to be.
But a defeat is a defeat and Dundee’s Premiership predicament continues to give serious cause for concern.
A decent first half-hour would have been a very good first half-hour had A-Jay Leith-Smith scored when he was one v one with keeper Freddie Woodman.
When you get a chance like that against one of the league’s top sides you have to take it and, sure enough, that football truism played out five minutes later when Graeme Shinnie hit the ball into an empty net after Elliott Parish and Steven Caulker had gone for the same cross.
The Dundee midfield was stronger, as expected, for the return of Paul McGowan and Glen Kamara but the lack of second half chances (there were none) speaks to the problems they continue to have up front.
With Partick Thistle losing, no great damage was done this weekend but, with their run now being six defeats out of seven, nor was there any reason for great optimism.
