IT was a game billed as the epitome of the cliched six-pointer, but with two sides who had only won one match apiece all season, it was perhaps no surprise that even when they played one another, nobody came away with the three points.

In the end, it was one point apiece for both sides through goals from Simeon Jackson and Kenny Miller, a result that does neither of them much good and leaves both Jim McIntyre and Oran Kearney still searching for their first wins since taking over at Dundee and St Mirren respectively.

The visitors still haven’t won a match since the opening day, against Dundee ironically enough, while the Dees have only tasted victory against a Hamilton side that now sit six points ahead of them and five ahead of St Mirren at the foot of the table.

The point was certainly more welcome for Kearney’s men, with Dundee left to rue poor decision making in the final third that could have saw them leapfrog their visitors into 11th.

“I suppose it’s a relief to get off the mark,” said Dundee striker Miller, who got his first goal in the dark blue.

“You want to score goals, but the three points is far more important.

“I think off the back of the performance we have to win that game."

You might have expected a cagey opening given the stakes, but both teams tore into one another early on. St Mirren were having more of the ball, with Jackson in particular looking lively, but Dundee looked the more dangerous, going close twice in quick succession as Benjamin Kallman headed wide and Glenn Kamara brought a good low save out of Craig Samson with a 25-yard drive.

There was controversy though as St Mirren were awarded a penalty 20 minutes in, with Dundee claiming that Jackson had handled the ball before feeding Adam Hamill, who played a sumptuous backheel back into the striker’s path. Referee Bobby Madden allowed play to continue, but then pointed to the spot as Cammy Kerr collided with Jackson. The forward got up to hammer the penalty in off the underside of the bar.

“I’ve watched it back and for me it’s not a penalty,” said Dundee boss McIntyre.

“Definitely not. It’s very soft so that is disappointing, but the reaction of the players was great because it would have been very easy to feel sorry for ourselves.

“It’s not a penalty but the referee has given it and the most important thing was my players’ response.”

That response was immediate, with Kallman robbing the dithering Anton Ferdinand to set up Jessie Curran, but his shot from inside the box was blocked by Alfie Jones.

They were soon level though, as Curran fed Kallman who ran at the St Mirren backline before laying the ball low across goal on a plate for Miller to sweep home for the first goal of the McIntyre reign five games in.

Suddenly, the Saints were under siege, and Calvin Miller and then Darren O’Dea should have done better with headed opportunities, and Kearney would have been grateful to get his men inside to regroup at the break.

It was the home side who were on the front foot again at the start of the second half though, but for all of they were pushing St Mirren back, they created little in the way of clear-cut opportunities.

They might have been made to pay for that when Jackson went over in the area once more under the challenge from Genseric Kusunga, but the official wasn’t fooled by the Jackson dive and cautioned the forward. It was a strange choice from Jackson to go down, with the visitors having men over that he could have squared the ball to for an easy tap-in.

The Dundee support now haven’t seen their side win at home since defeating Hamilton at Dens Park at the start of May, but it could have been worse. St Mirren felt they should have had a penalty right at the death after Kerr collided with Danny Mullen.

“I have watched it and we should have had another penalty,” said St Mirren boss Kearney.

“Kyle Magennis clips the ball in, it comes back across, and Danny Mullen is between the full-back and goal six yards out. When he swings contact is made and he doesn’t touch the ball.

“Any contact that close and it goes in. It is one of those ones that would have turned a good day into a really good day.

“Possibly we were like rabbits in the headlights when we scored, thinking ‘wow, what’s happened here?’

“At half-time we addressed the need for courage. Not to win tackles or headers, but I felt for the 25-minute spell they had in the first half the coping mechanism was just to hoof it up the pitch.

“I’ve been in football long enough to know that the ball just comes back to you when you do that, so we needed courage from Anton (Ferdinand) and Alfie (Jones) to get on the ball and make some passes.

“When we did that ion the second half the game opens up and we look dangerous.”