Dundee United fell 12 points adrift at the bottom of the Premiership despite getting a decent-looking draw away to Hamilton Accies.
It was typical of the Tangerines’ season that on a day when they played some good stuff and secured a point at New Douglas Park the venue where they lost 4-0 back in August they ended up falling further behind in the table.
The reason was that Kilmarnock won 2-0 just a few miles down the road in Motherwell, meaning the Fir Park side replaced them as the nearest team to the Tannadice men but they are still a dozen points better off.
It could have been even worse had it not been for a brilliant penalty save from United keeper Eiji Kawashima with just four minutes remaining, with the Japanese blocking Ali Crawford’s spotkick with his legs.
The Tangerines’ Scottish Cup goal hero Scott Fraser was, somewhat surprisingly, named as a sub despite stealing the show against Partick Thistle the previous Saturday.
That meant manager Mixu Paatelainen named the same starting line-up for the third game in a row against Kilmarnock, the Jags and now the Accies.
New striker Edward Ofere joined Fraser on the bench, while the home side were without the suspended Darian MacKinnon.
United, backed by a 1200-plus travelling support in a 3902 crowd, came close to opening the scoring on 19 minutes when a Guy Demel strike from outside the box went just wide.
Clear-cut chances were few are far between for both sides and when Hamilton threatened it was from distance on 36 minutes, with Crawford shooting over from 25 yards.
A minute later, though, the visitors went within a whisker of breaking the deadlock when Simon Murray stabbed the ball goalwards after being played in by John Rankin but keeper Michael McGovern was there to save.
Right on the half-time whistle, Hamilton’s Crawford sent a freekick just wide of the post.
Four minutes after the restart, there was an injury scare for United when Demel suffered a head knock that needed treatment on the sidelines but the midfielder made it back on.
United had as serious shout for a penalty ignored by referee Steven McLean on 54 minutes when defender Coll Donaldson appeared to be fouled by Lucas Tagliapietra.
With news filtering through that Killie were winning at Motherwell, you sensed the Tangerines had to really go for it.
On 70 minutes, Blair Spittal sent a freekick from just outside the box into the Accies’ wall as United continued to look for a winner.
There was late drama as Kawashima became the hero for the Tannadice side.
He saved Crawford’s penalty with just four minutes remaining after Paul Paton had slid in on Dougie Imrie.
Having survived that, the vistors pushed and pushed for a winner but Hamilton, who had Mikey Devlin red-carded in the closing stages, held out.