Lichties paid the penalty for that spot miss
Arbroath boss Dick Campbell was left ruing his side’s first-half penalty miss in their 2-0 defeat.
Michael Mckenna stepped up to the spot on 32 minutes after on- loan Spurs kid Malachi Fagan- Walcott brought Jason Thomson down in the box.
However, with the game poised at 0-0, Mckenna fired in a weak effort that was comfortably saved by Adam Legzdins, making his first home start in the Dee goal.
The Dark Blues would go on to score twice in the second half, through Danny Mullen and Max Anderson, to secure a valuable three points in their mission to make the Championship promotion play-off spots.
The win saw Dundee leapfrog Queen of the South, who lost 3- 2 to Alloa, with Campbell magnanimous in defeat, insisting the Dee deserved the victory.
He said: “You can’t come to Dundee, a full-time club with that budget, and miss a penalty-kick. That’s a certainty.
“They deserved to win the game, Dundee. I don’t think we bothered their goalkeeper enough in the second half.
“The boy Paul Mcmullan put two great crosses in and both goals have gone in off our defenders.
“You wo u l d n’t say t h e y we re magnificently manufactured goals, unless you’re a Dundee supporter.
“Dundee deserved to win the game because they scored two goals, it doesn’t matter how you score them.”
The result leaves the Red Lichties lying in second-bottom in the relegation playoff spot, with runaway leaders Hearts up next for the Angus side.
The visit of the Jambos to Gayfield next weekend will be a tough test for the part- timers but it’s one Campbell says they’ll have to rise to in their fight against the drop.
A win for Alloa over the Doonhamers means Arbroath are just four points off the foot of the table with seven games remaining.
He added: “We knew we were in a fight so that’s football for you.
“It doesn’t matter what happened elsewhere we’ve got Hearts next week so we’ll go again.
“Well done to James Mcpake and his Dundee team – they deserved the three points.”