Motherwell 1
Dundee 3
League (Premier Division)

Match Report

Newspaper extract from The Courier.

"I thought," said a Manchester friend, up on a fishin' and fitba'- watching holiday, "you told me Dundee were in poor shape. They should have won 7-1-at least and were a pleasure to watch, except for that finishing."

He was speaking after the Dark Blues' 3-1 victory over Motherwell at Fir Park on Saturday So, come clean, you Dundee players. Confess! You've spent the previous five games kidding us. Setting us up for one of those great escapes you specialise in. It's just about the only explanation of what went before and what happened at Fir Park.

Not to put too fine a point on it, they took Motherwell apart-the same Motherwell who gave Dundee United a hard time of it exactly a week earlier, admittedly on the wings of a gale.

'Well manager Tommy McLean said afterwards, "Not many of our players out there today could say 'I competed,."

True, but that was largely because Dundee didn't let them.

"Delighted to get two points," was manager Archie Knox's after-match summing-up. "But when their goal went in-in the 13th minute-I thought 'oh no!'

"But we went on to create more chances than in any game this season. Clear-cut chances, too. And, at last, most of the players showed the form of last season."

He singled out Jim Duffy, and I must, too. I didn't agree with the manager when he said Duffy would make it as a central defender given time. I readily confess I was wrong, if he continues to dominate in the air and on the ground like he did on Saturday.

But he was only one of many players to excel. Rab Shannon is fast maturing into an excellent full back; big Jim Smith mightn't look elegant, but it's a hard job getting past those long legs of his in his 'new' position of full back; suddenly John Brown and John McCormack were wanting the ball again and thundering forward at every opportunity.

And if the front-running players missed chances, they at least were there to miss them.

Though Dundee dominated almost throughout, the high spots of the game happened in bursts.

In the nine minutes between the 13th and 22nd Stewart cracked a great goal for 'Well from 20 yards, a Connor header and a Stephen shot were brilliantly saved by Gardiner;

Brown equalised in 19 minutes when he glided the ball round Gardiner and Stephen and Harvey missed other chances.

McCormack set up the perfect result for Dundee in 48 minutes when he made it 2-1 after a Glennie shot following a corner "broke" to him.

Gardiner injured a shoulder keeping out a Rafferty drooping header, John Reilly and McStay went on for 'Well; Stephen and Dornan were booked for a bit of jersey-pulling, Connor had a great shot deflected for a corner, then Harvey sewed it all up in 78 minutes.

He chased a "lost cause" ball, forced Gardiner into a hasty clearance, which bounced off Stephen and in behind the keeper. Harvey was left with an empty goal to guide the ball into.

Hendry, Harvey and McCormack might have added goals before the end to emphasise Dundee's best showing of the season to date and the fact that 'Well had completely crumbled by this time.