Dundee aiming high as Arbroath pay penalty

DUNDEE reignited their promotion play-off push with this ultimately comfortable win over

Arbroath at Dens Park.

The Red Lichties missed a penalty in the first half and were left to rue that wasted opportunity, with Danny Mullen scoring after the break for the home side before Max Anderson sealed all three points late on for the Dark Blues.

The victory was the first game in a triple-header this week for James McPake’s men, who play Ayr on Tuesday and then head to Alloa on Friday.

And the manager admitted he hopes the Arbroath result will be the first in a winning run that will propel Dundee up the Championship table.

He said: ‘We needed to start this run right by getting three points.

‘We need to get back to winning here because we were disappointed at the Queen of the South defeat last month. That shouldn’t have happened.

‘It’s about how quickly we can get back on board and winning games of football.

‘We did that and we’re pleased. We’ll be back in for Tuesday night, which will be another tough game but it needs to be another three points.’

Dundee dominated the opening stages of the game but, despite that, failed to trouble Arbroath goalkeeper Derek Gaston.

Instead, it was his opposite number, Dundee keeper Adam Legzdins, who made the first save of the match in the 14th minute, diving to snuff out the danger from a long-range Michael McKenna shot.

Dundee had a huge let-off in the 31st minute after Arbroath were awarded a penalty by referee Willie Collum when Jason Thomson went down under a challenge in the home box by on-loan Tottenham teenager Malachi Fagan-Walcott.

McKenna stepped up to take the spot-kick but former Burnley No 1 Legzdins dived to his left to make a fine save.

Just before half-time, the ball bobbled about in the Arbroath box before falling for Jason Cummings but the striker’s composure deserted him and he blasted well over the bar.

Dundee’s produced a free-flowing move in the 50th minute with the ball eventually arriving on a plate for Mullen 12 yards out but, like Cummings, he shot well over when he should have at least hit the target.

However, the striker made amends in the 55th minute. Paul McMullan swung a cross in from the right to the back post, with Mullen sending a downward header past Gaston.

Arbroath battled manfully to get back into the game but struggled to fashion clear-cut chances.

And the Dark Blues finally put the game beyond them in the 83rd minute, with McMullan again the provider, cutting the ball back to Anderson who slotted past Gaston with the aid of a deflection.

Red Lichties boss Dick Campbell had no complaints about the final result, saying: ‘You cannot come to Dundee, a full-time club with that budget, and miss a penalty kick.

‘They deserved to win the game. We didn’t work their goalkeeper enough.’