Hartley hails home heroes’ return to form
DUNDEE manager Paul Hartley saluted his side after seeing them return to winnings ways in style over struggling Motherwell.
‘I’m really pleased for the players,’ said Hartley.
‘They’ve had a lot of criticism over the past few weeks, but we showed here that we’re a half-decent team.
‘We’ve gone through a really difficult spell and we know that. But the players have kept working hard and not got too down about things.
‘We’ve got a 14-point gap over the two teams at the bottom and we want to make that gap as big as possible.
‘It’s a good lead for us and we just have to look at the other teams above us, like St Johnstone, who we’re four points behind.’
Dundee were 3-1 up at the break and Hartley’s only disappointment was not increasing their tally.
He said: ‘We got off to a really positive start. We had said to the players beforehand that we had to take the game to Motherwell.
‘I thought we did that and young Alex Harris played a big part in our result today.
‘We scored some good goals — and I was disappointed that we didn’t score more.
‘We had enough of the ball, especially in the second half, to do so — but we’ve got to be happy with the result.’
Meanwhile, frustrated Motherwell manager Ian Baraclough warned his side they are now caught in a relegation dogfight after watching the visitors endure their third consecutive loss, after reverses against Aberdeen and Hamilton.
Baraclough said: ‘They were glaring mistakes we made and it’s not acceptable that these mistakes keep happening.
‘It’s no coincidence that we are where we are and it’s not just in my time since I’ve come here — it’s been happening for a good part of the season.
‘We’re not kidding ourselves. If we carry on defending as a team like that — and I’m not picking out any individuals — we’re going to make it extremely difficult for ourselves.
‘We’re down there for a reason. You can’t rely on other teams not to pick up results.
‘You have got to expect Ross County to win that game they’ve not played today and you’ve got to expect St Mirren to pick up points, too.
‘But we’ve got it in our own hands, so we’ve got to make sure we do it and not rely on anybody else.’