Dundee boss James McPake has reaffirmed his players’ “heart and desire” to survive after falling to the foot of the Scottish Premiership table after a derby draw with Dundee United.

McPake’s men edged the feisty encounter, with Paul McMullan forcing Benjamin Siegrist into a fine stop before Zak Rudden went close twice.

“We’ll fight. That’s one thing I’ll guarantee,” McPake said.

“We can turn it around quickly, we need to. We need to stay in this division.”

With fellow relegation strugglers St Johnstone winning, McPake rued his frontline’s missed chances.

But United’s Nicky Clark passed up two second-half chances of his own as the seventh-placed side failed to register a shot on target throughout the 90 minutes.

A victory would have sent the Tannadice club back into the top six, but the visitors rarely looked threatening.

The last top-flight derby at Dens ended in euphoria for the home support as Craig Wighton’s last-minute winner confirmed United’s relegation to the Championship.

Almost six years on, it was the visitors who were looking to dent their rivals’ survival hopes, but Courts’ men failed to test Adam Legzdins in goal.

The away side were reduced to shots from distance in a stop-start first half, with Tony Watt and Clark trying their luck from distance.

In truth, it was a similar story for the hosts, but they at least mustered an effort on goal when Niall McGinn’s clipped cross found former United winger McMullan, whose glancing header across goal forced Siegrist to stretch and tip the ball to safety.

McMullan tried his luck shortly after the break with a sweetly-hit volley from the edge of the box, but the ball was straight down the throat of the United keeper.

McPake introduced new signing Rudden for his debut and the Scotland Under-21 cap made an instant impact, seeing a finish from a tight angle take a nick off Ross Graham before being cleared off the line by Ryan Edwards.

The resulting corner from the home side saw Rudden threaten again as the striker’s side-foot effort was hacked away from the bottom-right corner.

Dundee’s second-half dominance faded with the game entering the latter stages and it was instead United who looked the more likely.

But like their rivals, the away side were wasteful. Dylan Levitt’s corner found Clark in space but the striker could not divert a first-time strike on target.

The former Rangers forward was then picked out by Tony Watt, but poked over from no more than a couple of yards out under pressure – a squandered chance that epitomised a derby lacking cutting edge.

Man of the match – Paul McMullan

What did we learn?

Goalscoring is fast becoming a real problem for McPake, and with his side now rooted to the bottom on goal difference, that has to change quickly.

The Dens Park side have failed to score in five of their last six games, and with a huge game against Ross County to come at the weekend, McPake has to find a formula that is going to drag his men closer to safety.

With a trip to St Johnstone and a home game against Motherwell on the horizon in United’s next two league games, Courts would have viewed Tuesday’s derby as a chance to kick off a bit of momentum.

The visitors lacked cutting edge to achieve that, though, but signs are there that a frontline of Watt, Clark and Marc McNulty could gel into a threatening trio.

However, that bedding-in process will have to happen quickly if United are to get themselves back into the top half.

What did they say?

Dundee manager James McPake: “The positive is it’s a third clean sheet in a row, but the negative is I believe we had the better of the chances, we need to be more lethal.

“We need to be better at the top end of the pitch, but we’re giving key players minutes which is important.”

Dundee United head coach Tam Courts: “It wasn’t a great game, I’m not going to lie. It was tight and hard fought. We feel a bit frustrated with our performance and missed chances.

“We just couldn’t get any real rhythm. I’m disappointed we couldn’t get three points and the performance to match. I was looking for a bit more quality. All too often tonight we chose the wrong decision.”

What’s next?

Both sides return to action on Saturday (15:00 GMT) as Dundee host Ross County and Dundee United travel to St Johnstone.