Dundee and Hearts had to settle for a share of the points in a disappointing goalless encounter at Dens Park.

In a match where both teams had chances to secure victory, particularly in the first half, it was an unfulfilling 90 minutes.

Dundee, fresh from their 2-0 win at Rangers in midweek, failed to grab the opportunity of pushing themselves towards the coveted top six spot.

And the Maroons could not come away with the type of victory which secured a Scottish Cup win at the same ground earlier this month.

Dundee in particular were guilty of not gathering maximum points, which their often entertaining play warranted.

Striker Claudio Caniggia was the main culprit, his final touch failing to match his overall contribution.

Dundee had a fairly settled look about them, buoyed as they were from their victory at Ibrox, whereas Hearts welcomed back the influential Colin Cameron, and gave a first start to Canadian international Kevin McKenna on loan from East German side Energie Cottbus.

Hearts should have gone ahead after nine minutes when they squandered their best chance of the whole game, Andy Kirk drilling a shot inches wide when through on goal, after the Northern Ireland striker dispossessed Barry Smith.

A few minutes later, Dundee showed their quality and were unlucky not to go in front themselves.

A fluent move involving the trio of Giorgi Nemsadze, Caniggia and Juan Sara finished off with the Argentinian Sara blasting against Antti Niemi from close range.

Dundee then took control of the game, although the Edinburgh side were well organised at the back and generally kept them at bay.

Nevertheless, in the 36th minute the Taysiders wasted another chance when Georgian international Nemsadze casually side-footed a shot from eight yards over after some quality build-up play from Caniggia.

Hearts' response came just a minute later when Flogel attempted an audacious overhead kick which went just wide from an Austin McCann cross.

In the second half, both teams toiled and there was little in the way of entertainment for the 7,327 crowd.

Both sets of strikers were continually foiled and there was a general lack of goalscoring chances for either side.

Eventually, in the 70th minute Caniggia linked up with Artero in a good wide position but the latter's shot zipped across the goalmouth with none of his team-mates able to get the final touch.

The only chance of real note came from Hearts a minute later when Cameron's first-time shot from six yards was brilliantly turned away by Marco Roccati from substitute Steven Boyack's cross.