Caretaker captain Brian Kerr is adamant Dundee surrendering top spot in division one to Inverness Caledonian Thistle doesn’t mean the death knell has sounded on their title hopes.
The Dark Blues gave up a late leveller against fellow contenders County to allow Caley to leapfrog them at the head of affairs.
But the performance in Dingwall was a vast improvement on recent displays and Kerr insists Inverness opening up a point lead is just the latest development rather than the final chapter in a fascinating battle to reach the SPL.
“There’s a lot of twists and turns to come,” he promised,
“We still have to go to Inverness while Ross County play Inverness in midweek.
“And with the teams at the bottom scrapping for their lives, they are likely to pick up points against the leading sides as well.
“It’s just vital we get the heads up for Tuesday night at Dunfermline and set about going on a winning run.
“It’s tough at the minute. But looking at how we played against County, we are going in the right direction.
“That’s as well as we’ve performed in weeks and we felt very comfortable.
“I can’t believe we’ve conceded so late after all the effort we put into the game.
“We passed the ball well, created chances and showed good team spirit.
“The lads really looked like they wanted it today. It’s a sickener. But we’ll bounce back.”
Kerr was excellent in the centre of midfield and he revealed he’s relishing filling in as skipper after Eric Paton asked to be relieved of the responsibility and club captain Rab Douglas, who’d stepped into the breach, dropped out injured.Honour”Eric decided to pass the captaincy on a few weeks back and big Rab took over,” he said
“But for the two games since the new manager came in I’ve had the armband.
“What happens once Rab is back I don’t know. But I’m happy doing the job. It’s an honour.”
It was the second successive draw by Dundee since they sacked Jocky Scott and brought in Gordon Chisholm.
They are now without a win in five league games.
But Chisholm was encouraged by what he’d witnessed against County.
“I was delighted with the way the players went about it. They gave us everything they had.
“The only disappointment was not managing to hold on at the end.
“I know we’re off the top but there’s a lot of football still to be played and we remain within striking distance.”
In the first half, the personnel and tactical changes Chisholm had made worked to the extent that they kept County out and created a couple of terrific chances themselves.PromisingWith Ryan O’Leary and Gary MacKenzie forming a promising looking central pairing the Dark Blues, after a shaky opening, defended effectively for the bulk of the game.
Their 4-5-1 starting formation saw them fashion two outstanding scoring opportunities. The problem was lone striker Ben Hutchinson passed up both.
First, what should have been a tap-in from Leigh Griffiths’ cut-back was blocked by Michael McGovern, then after McGovern spilled an O’Leary header, the Celtic attacker’s attempt to tuck away the loose ball struck the inside of a post and bounced along the line before being hooked clear by Scott Boyd.
County had opened brightly enough and — after Iain Vigurs couldn’t turn in Martin Scott’s wicked cross — Richard Brittain forced Tony Bullock to make a fine save.
But the longer the game went, the better Dundee got and shortly after half-time Hutchinson made amends for those earlier misses, lashing the ball high past McGovern from close range after Griffiths held off Boyd to set him up.
As happened against Queen of the South, though, the Dark Blues failed to build on taking the lead. They found themselves pushed back by an eager County.
Bullock did well to block a Scott drive and even better to tip the ball over as Paton nearly scored a spectacular own goal in the immediate aftermath of that stop.Fired wideGriffiths might have killed it off on the break after Kerr capitalised on a Brittain error but he fired wide.
As County went for broke by throwing four men up front Chisholm withdrew his most potent attacking weapon in favour of Gary McKeown and went for five at the back.
Home boss Derek Adams claimed that switch had suited his side. But Dundee could hardly have risked their advantage by going man for man.
Unfortunately, however, for as hard as they worked to hold what they had, four minutes from time the Dark Blues’ resolve was broken as substitute Steven Craig met Paul Di Giacomo’s cut-back on the volley and steered it into the far corner.
Seconds before the final whistle Sean Higgins teed Andrew Shinnie up for a stunning winner — but the on-loan Rangers midfielder miscued his finish and, with that, Dundee lost their grip on top spot.
Former Dens Park striker Craig said, “I thought the gaffer was taking the mickey when he said we were going 4-1-1-4 with 15 minutes to go,” he said.
“I’ve only experienced that sort of thing once before, when I was down at Ibrox with Aberdeen — and we got beat 4-0.”
Chisholm praised debutant O’Leary, saying, “Ryan certainly brought something to us. To have only come in on Friday and not really know the players, I thought he was solid.”