Drama at Dens as Dee win five-goal thriller
DUNDEE 3
Cummings (30), Mullen (54), Ashcroft (56)
DUNFERMLINE 2
O’hara (3), Wighton (6)
Defiant Dundee came back from the dead as they stunned promotion rivals Dunfermline to boost their play-off hopes in this fivegoal thriller.
James Mcpake’s never-saydie Dark Blues fired out a clear message by leapfrogging Stevie Crawford’s deflated Dunfermline who’d raced into a whirlwind 2-0 lead before the Taysider’s turned on the style.
Jason Cummings’ 30th minute header sparked their rousing comeback after quickfire goals from Kevin O’hara and Craig Wighton had the Pars cruising inside only six minutes.
Danny Mullen and Lee Ashcroft then stepped up to complete a remarkable turnaround with goals within the space of just two minutes after the break to push Dundee up into third top in the Championship and compound their opponents’ poor run of recent form.
Dunfermline began the match 16 points behind league leaders Hearts with three games
in hand and were buoyed by the fact the Jambos had earlier lost 3-2 to Queen of the South.
They had new signing Ewan Henderson – on loan from Celtic – on the bench after he’d joined 24 hours earlier.
Dundee had won 3-0 at Alloa last Friday but were desperate to make amends for their last home fixture which saw them surrender 3-1 to Ayr United.
The Dark Blues knew they couldn’t afford another slip-up in their quest to land a play-off place.
They were without talisman playmaker Charlie Adam who was suspended but Osman Sow returned to lead the line at the expense of Mullen.
And they found themselves trailing after just three minutes.
Wighton drove into the box only to be tackled by Christie Elliott who poked the ball into the path of O’hara who swivelled to fire a left-foot shot high past Adam Legzdins.
Then, three minutes later, Wighton piled more misery on his former club.
Liam Fontaine couldn’t clear his lines and defensive teammate Ashcroft also failed as the ball ricocheted off Wighton.
The ex-dens Park striker pounced to send a sublime chip over the head of helpless Legzdins to put the visitors firmly in the driving seat.
Dundee were shell-shocked but tried to get themselves back into the game in 11 minutes
when Jordan Marshall’s cross was headed just over Owain Fon Williams’ crossbar by Sow.
But they were given some much-needed hope on the halfhour mark.
Sow watched Fon Williams defy him with a breathtaking double save but his last stop could only parry the ball for Cummings to steer home a header from point-blank range.
Dundee went in immediate search for an equaliser after the break and Paul Mcmullan’s cross was just missed by Declan Mcdaid at the far post.
Then, in 53 minutes, Cummings sent Mullen through but his shot from 12 yards came crashing back off the bar.
However, they levelled a minute later. Ashcroft’s header from Paul Mcgowan’s corner was parried by Fon Williams and Mullen was in the right place to smash the rebound high into the net.
Two minutes later, Ashcroft hit what proved to be the winner with an unstoppable header into the corner of the net from another Mcgowan corner.
Dunfermline threw on Henderson for defender Paul Watson midway through the second-half to try and spark their own comeback.
But Dundee remained on top with Fon Williams pulling off a superb save from Mullen’s header before thwarting Cummings from close-range.