Jim McIntyre refused to point the finger of blame at Kenny Miller after the striker’s last-gasp penalty missed saw Dundee have to settle for a point against Kilmarnock at Dens Park last night.
Miller saw his spot-kick in the fifth minute of injury time comfortably saved by Kille keeper Daniel Bachmann, who’d brought him down in a dramatic finish to an entertaining draw.
With fellow-strugglers Hamilton Accies pulling off a surprise win over St Johnstone at New Douglas Park, it means the Dark Blues are now three points adrift in second-bottom place in the top flight.
Jim, though, was in no mood to criticise a man he knows has made a big contribution since arriving at Dens in August.
“Kenny is disappointed, he’s gutted,” said Jim.
“But Kenny has scored a lot of important goals in my time here.
“Everybody has missed a penalty and yes it was a great opportunity for us to win the game but truth be told we wouldn’t have deserved it.”
Jim felt if his side had the better of the first 45 minutes, Killie were on top after the break and had chances of their own to win.
“It’s a very good point, take the penalty out of the equation. I thought after their second goal, Kilmarnock had us by the throat a wee bit.
“The pleasing aspect for me, the postives for me, are the way we dug in when they were on top in the second half.
“There was some desperate defending at times and the keeper had some saves to makes.”
A double from Andrew Nelson had Dundee up at the break and their play to get ahead delighted the gaffer.
“Obviously, the quality we showed in the first half was very pleasing.
“I thought we were excellent. We moved them well and cause them problems.
“We had Kilmarnock really worried and Andrew Nelson’s finishes were very good.
“I thought him and Craig Curran looked a real threat together. Our wide players were also causing havoc.
“Then Kilmarnock made a system change in the second half and we struggled to deal with it, hence the reason we had to change the shape.
“You have to give Kilmarnock credit. They are a good side who are used to winning games and it doesn’t faze them going behind. They have been a few times and come back to win.”
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