Who needs penalties?
Dundee celebrate Lee Ashcroft’s winner against Motherwell on a day when the Dens Park clash was the only Premier Sports Cup tie that did not need penalties to decide the outcome. Dundee United eventually overcame Ayr United, and it was the same for Livingston against St Mirren.
DUNDEE 1 Ashcroft (78) MOTHERWELL 0 Dundee boss James Mcpake marvelled at his side’s steely character as they made amends for their Parkhead pounding by booking their place in the Scottish League Cup quarter-final.
Mcpake poured praise on his Dark Blues stars who bounced back from last Sunday’s slaughtering in impressive fashion to dump Graham Alexander’s Motherwell, thanks to Lee Ashcroft’s 78th-minute bullet header.
It was the perfect pick-me-up for the Premiership new boys who were on the receiving end of a 6-0 hammering by Celtic last Sunday as they find themselves back among the top tier of Scottish Football.
And Mcpake, whose players can look forward to today’s quarterfinal draw, saluted his troops for rising in the face of adversity.
He said: “We faced a few tests out there. The first one was: how do you bounce back after such a real, heavy defeat?
“But we showed what we’re all about. Right from the off, we were in Motherwell’s faces.
“The next test is: if you go behind, do you crumble? Thankfully, we never got to see that.
“We go in front instead and showed real character and bravery to keep playing.
“Even when they were going long late on, we had Paul Mcgowan and Shaun Byrne putting their foot on the ball at every opportunity.
“So talk about character and resilience. Less than a week ago, we’d lost six at Celtic. But we had people prepared to stand up and be counted.
“That’s what pleased me most. For the last seven minutes, they threw absolutely everything at us but we felt comfortable.
“Now I don’t care who we get in the next round. I’m just delighted we’re there.”
Mcpake had challenged his players pre-match to regain the faith of the fans in the wake of their Celtic capitulation, and there was a vociferous crowd inside Dens come kick-off, which included 1,000 away fans.
Well almost went behind in 19 minutes when Jason Cummings had the first chance of this last-16 tie when he latched onto a loose ball 18 yards from goal.
The former Hibs striker steadied himself before firing a low shot, which Liam Kelly did well to smother at the second attempt.
A few minutes later, Paul Mcmullan picked out the on-rushing Christie Elliott but his low drive went right into the hands of Kelly.
Connor Shields did have a glimpse of goal for Motherwell soon after, only for his powerful effort to be saved by Adam Legzdins.
Then, in 38 minutes, Motherwell were presented with the most clear-cut opportunity to take the lead after Ashcroft found himself robbed of possession.
Steven Lawless went on the counter-attack and squared for Shields, who took a touch and thundered a shot that came crashing back off the bar, much to Ashcroft’s relief.
Dundee began the second half brightly. Cummings switched play to Mcmullan whose downward header fell perfectly for Jordan Mcghee, but his close-range effort was saved by Kelly.
Cummings had his 57th-minute ‘goal’disallowed for offside after good work by Luke Mccowan.
But the Taysiders weren’t to be disappointed 12 minutes from time.
Mcmullan swung over an inch-perfect corner for Ashcroft to rise and thunder a trademark header high into the net past Kelly, who was rendered helpless.
It sent the home support wild with delight and went a long way to making up for last weekend’s drubbing by Celtic.