The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Haber and Wighton on target at Gayfield
FRIENDLY: Dark Blues strikers come off the bench in second half to sink the Lichties
Dundee returned from a week off to comfortably beat League 2 side Arbroath at Gayfield last night.
The Dark Blues bossed the first half without scoring, but goals in the second 45 from Marcus Haber and Craig Wighton were enough to settle the friendly in their favour.
The Premiership side started briskly, moving the ball around well and they had their first chance in the sixth minute.
Yordi Teijsse pounced on a defensive mistake and let fly with a shot from the left edge of the Arbroath box but it flew just wide of Ricky Gomes’s post.
The Dark Blues had another chance when Danny Williams manufactured some space for himself before shooting from 20 yards with Gomes almost bundling the ball into his own net but he gathered at the second attempt.
The same Dundee player then had an even better opportunity in the 20th minute when he was slipped in on goal by Teijsse but Gomes pulled off a great save to deny the former Inverness player.
The visitors continued to dominate territory and possession but Arbroath did have a rare sight of goal in the 27th minute, Ryan McCord’s long-range effort sailing well over Scott Bain’s bar.
Dundee’s Michael Duffy then struck a powerful drive from 25 yards but again the attempt was too high and the half ended goalless.
Dark Blues boss Paul Hartley made wholesale changes at half-time, with only Cammy Kerr and Williams from the original starting XI returning for the second 45 .
The deadlock was finally broken by Dundee in the 52nd minute. Faissal El Bakhtaoui raced down the right before sending over a tempting cross and Haber made no mistake, heading home at the back post.
The Premiership side came agonisingly close to extending their lead in the 66th minute when El Bakhtaoui played in Wighton but the striker’s angled shot cannoned off the bottom of the righthand post and the danger was cleared.
El Bakhtaoui’s tail was up and he tried an ambitious shot from 30 yards but it was too straight and Gomes gathered.
Dundee finally put the game to bed in the 85th minute. Tom Hateley took a quick throw-in to Haber who raced down the left before sending in a low cross which Wighton fired home at the back post. Attendance: 749. Arbroath: Gomes, Thomson, Sukar, Whatley, Hamilton, McCord, Skelly, Malin, Prunty, Ferns, Callaghan. Subs: Kader, Scott, Gold, Hester, Linn, Little, Stewart.
Dundee: Bain, Holt, Vincent, O’Dea, Duffy, Williams, Ross, McGowan, Teijsse, Kerr, Gomis. Subs: Mitchell, Hateley, Low, O’Hara, Etxabeguren, El Bakhtaoui, Haber, Gadzhalov, Curran, Wighton.
Referee: Mike Roncone.