East Fife equal to big boys Dundee

DUNDEE manager Paul Hartley was left to rue his team’s poor second-half display after East Fife deservedly bagged a bonus point in this opening Group A tie.

The Premiership side took the lead in the first half thanks to prolific striker Kane Hemmings, but they were pegged back with 12 minutes left when Kevin Smith scored a wonderful 25-yard free-kick to equalise for the League One club.

Gary Naysmith’s team triumphed in the penalty shootout to earn a bonus point — a new addition to this year’s revamped League Cup.

For Hartley, it was far from an ideal start to the competitive season. ‘You are never quite sure how the first games of the season are going to go, but we didn’t perform in the second half like I know we can,’ he said.

‘I tried to pick the strongest team to try to win the game, but it is disappointing to draw in the end. It’s not the penalties that concern me — it’s the second-half performance. You can never know what is going to happen with penalties.

‘We did not deal with the conditions. We didn’t pass the ball as well as we can and we didn’t cope. But I want to give East Fife credit for the way they played in the second half.’

Hartley handed competitive debuts to midfielders Danny Williams and Mark O’Hara, who have joined from Inverness and Kilmarnock respectively. Michael Duffy, who moved to the Dens Park club on a season-long loan from Celtic, was also thrown straight into the action.

One key absentee was injured Greg Stewart, the Dundee striker who has been heavily linked with a move away from the club over recent months. Hartley confirmed afterwards that he would be back training at the start of next week.

The goal the visitors craved arrived nine minutes before the break. Williams had a couple of attempts blocked, but when the ball broke to Hemmings his shot from 20 yards hit off the inside of the left post and found the net.

In the second half, Hartley introduced new midfielder James Vincent, who arrived with Williams from Caley Thistle this summer.

But credit to East Fife, who fought hard and equalised on 78 minutes. Dundee left-back Kevin Holt was booked for a challenge 25 yards from goal. Up stepped Smith, who curled a fine left-foot effort into the top corner.

With no winner over the 90 minutes, the match went to a penalty shoot-out.

Dundee’s Rory Loy and Vincent both missed, and it was East Fife’s Scott Robinson who scored the decisive penalty to earn his team a bonus point.

Afterwards, East Fife playermanager Naysmith said: ‘I don’t think anyone can grumble that we deserved to equalise in the second half. I’m delighted.’