Livingston 1-1 Dundee

Feb 10 2008 Michael Baillie Reports

Livingston 1 Dundee 1

FRUSTRATED Dundee boss Alex Rae has warned his faltering stars they can wave goodbye to their title dream unless they stop hiding on the pitch.

Rae saw his stuttering side fall seven points behind Hamilton in the race for the SPL after the draw with Livi.

The Dark Blues boss admits his team were lucky to leave Almondvale with a point after Mickael Antoine-Curier's controversial penalty cancelled out Robert Snodgrass's opener.

Dundee have now won just once in their last seven games and Rae said: "A point is no good for us. We need guys to stand up and be counted. I've been saying this over and over for weeks but it's true because what we're getting just now is not good enough.

"We were second best to everything and were lucky to get a draw."

Dee were unfortunate not to take the lead in seven minutes when Gary McKenzie's header smacked the post.

But it was Livi who edged ahead in 26 minutes as Dundee's static defence failed to deal with Craig James' corner to allow Snodgrass to head home.

Dundee were being outplayed but a minute before the interval were thrown a lifeline when ref Scott MacDonald awarded a penalty.

Ex-Livi striker Colin McMenamin tumbled under pressure from Lee Makel and James McPake.

Although home defender McPake won the ball the spot-kick was given.

The decision incensed Livi but on-loan Hibs striker Antoine-Curier kept his cool to slot past Colin Stewart.

McPake was stunned by the penalty. He said: "It was a terrible decision.

"I asked the ref why it was a penalty because I clearly won the ball but he said we both went across him." Dundee rarely threatened after the break and had to rely on some fine saves from Ludovic Roy to deny Snodgrass and sub Leigh Giffiths.

With four minutes to go Dundee lost Czech defender Milan Palenik when he collected a second booking for a foul on Steven Craig.

Dens gaffer Rae was unhappy with the sending off and said: "I didn't think it was a yellow card."

Livi boss Mark Proctor said: "I don't want to get involved in the contentious decisions but I felt the referee was consistently poor for both teams."

MoM: Makel (Livingston)