Dundee 1 Partick Thistle 0

A late winner from Paul McGowan saw Dundee move into sixth position in the Scottish Premiership as Partick Thistle left Dens Park bitterly disappointed. Paul Hartley's side leapfrogged Tayside rivals St Johnstone in the table thanks to McGowan's stoppage-time finish, which downed Alan Archibald's visitors 1-0. Dundee handed a debut to recent signing Paul Heffernan while on-loan Hibernian ace Alex Harris returned from being cup-tied against Celtic the previous week. Gary Harkins won a place on the bench following injury but striker Greg Stewart was suspended. For Partick, Ryan Stevenson dropped to the bench from their midweek defeat by Celtic and was replaced by Gary Fraser as they aimed to end a wretched run of results. Dundee knew that victory would push them above St Johnstone, who had lost to Celtic earlier in the day. But it was Thistle who had the first chance in six minutes when Lyle Taylor pounced onto a loose ball but, from 10 yards out, he hacked wide of Scott Bain's far post. Soon after Thistle midfielder Stuart Bannigan was booked for a foul on McGowan as the hosts attempted to find a foothold in the game. Dundee had chance to take the lead in ten minutes when Alex Harris released Jim McAlister, but visiting keeper Scott Fox raced off his line to narrow the angle and saved well. It was end-to-end stuff and Thistle were on the attack again as youngster Declan McDaid made some space wide on the right, before whipping over a cross which Bain did well to gather with both hands as Fraser lurked inside the six-yard box. Then, a minute later, Taylor's cross from the right was met by Christie Elliot, whose header flew just over the bar. Midway through the first-half, Dundee came within inches of going ahead when Harris' flighted free-kick eluded the entire Jags defence, but Gary Irvine just missed out on making contact at the far post. On the half-hour mark, Thistle should have made the breakthrough. Bannigan's in-swinging corner picked out Callum Booth but he could not keep his header down from point-blank range and the chance went begging. Dundee almost opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time when Harris curled a 25-yard free-kick towards the top corner, only for Fox to deny him with a breathtaking save. The second half started slowly although debutant Heffernan had a half-chance in the 60th minute, his shot from an acute angle fizzing wide. Midway through the second-half, Thistle sent on Kris Doolan for Taylor in a bid to end the stalemate, and soon after the hosts went for it by introducing Craig Wighton for Heffernan. But it was left to McGowan to force home the winner with almost the last kick of the ball after substitute Harkins had cut inside the box to set him up at the far post.