Dundee 2
Arbroath 0
League Cup (1st Round 1st Leg)

Match Report

Former Arbroath player John Fletcher ended Dundee's goal drought with a brace of goals at Dens last night.

He scored his first with a header after 18 minutes but the Dundee fans had to wait until 18 minutes from the end before they saw Fletcher get his second and assure the home side of victory.

Dundee finished very strongly against an Arbroath side who played well throughout, but seemed to suffer from the same faults which had beset Dundee in their first three games.

Both teams showed changes at the start, with Jocky Scott back in the Dundee line-up after an 18-month absence with back trouble.

Jocky, in fact, raised the first cheer of the night with a first- timer which flashed past the near post and in the early moments showed some deft touches despite his long lay-off.

Ian Fleming was only inches over with a good try for Dundee, but there was still little between the teams when John Fletcher finally broke Dundee's duck after 288 minutes of competitive football with a fine goal.

Ian Fleming began it all with a nice pass inside the back to McGeachie on the overlap and when the right-back crossed into the goalmouth, Fletcher met the ball to beat Lister with a powerful header.

The goal settled Dundee who now began to force the pace and at times had the visitors defence near to panic.

But it all changed after 25 minutes when MacLaren had to concede a desperate corner kick to prevent Shaw from grabbing the equaliser, and the former Hearts player wasn't far away with a 30-yard freekick.

In 40 minutes the same player had another chance to grab the equaliser when he intercepted a McGeachie pass meant for Scott but shot over from 18 yards.

As the interval approached it was Dundee once again who were back on the attack.

The second half got under way with Arbroath stalwart Alan McKenzie getting his name in the referee's book for a tackle from behind on Sinclair.

Gavine was having an outstanding game for the visitors and his well-measured passes to Yule and company were causing Dundee problems.

A Glennie mistake in 57 minutes could have cost a goal when Harley got to the line and cut the ball back to Yule who blasted over the top from 12 yards.

In 60 minutes, Arbroath brought on Donald for Mylles and five minutes later Docherty hit the side-net for Arbroath after a good move on the left.

A Jocky Scott shot on target raised another cheer from the home fans but brought no prob lems for Lister.

But in 72 minutes, the keeper was completely taken by sur prise when Fletcher, who had done little since his opening goal, turned quickly and blasted the ball past him from 25 yards.

Jocky Scott was given a big cheer when he left the field immediately after this and his replacement was Peter Mackie.

Dundee were applying a lot of pressure and with eight minutes to go, brought on young Ray mond Stephen for his first outing in the big team, replacing Murphy.

Two minutes later and with his first kick of the ball, the youngster had a shot blocked on the line.

Mackie, then Stephen again, had good efforts on target before Geddes had to save twice from Harley, a real enthusiast for the visitors up front.

Match report written by The Courier