Aberdeen 0
Dundee 1
League (Premier League)

Match Report

Dundee staged a late, late show at Pittodrie last night to guarantee their SPL status for another season.

Spanish sub Javier Artero crashed home a 20-yard drive fully 22 minutes into stop page time to secure the Dark Blues their 8th away win of the campaign.

That strike had the welcome effect of moving them 11 points clear of bottom-of the-table Aberdeen and, barring a disaster, safe from the possibility of finishing 10th in the league.

However, manager Jocky Scott was more taken with the fact the three points moved them ahead of Tayside rivals United and St Johnstone into sixth place.

"Perhaps because I made five changes and the fact this was like a really important game performance-wise, we were nervous and poor," he said.

"However, it's a great result for us, one which we needed to get us up the table and hopefully give us confidence to go and finish the season in the same way we ended last year.

"Had we lost we would still have been down there with Aberdeen and Kilmarnock, but winning has put a lot of daylight between ourselves and both of them, which is great.

"However, now I'm looking for us to carry this on into the final five games.

"I think I'm right in saying this is the first time we've been ahead of Dundee United this season. That's a big thing for us in the city of Dundee and we've got to build on that by getting more results like this one. But to do that we will need to play better than we did tonight."

Victory Dundee's recent unbeaten run to four matches and means they haven't lost in the Granite City-for so long a graveyard for the club-in the same number of visits.

For the dismal Dons-who had captain Derek Whyte ordered off the 77th minute-losing means their prospects of getting off the foot of the league looks somewhere between slim and non-existent.

Not that manager Ebbe Skovdahl was prepared to admit as much, despite the fact his expression told a different story.

"I would not say that we have little chance because the worst thing anyone can do is give in and we won't do that.

"I do accept though that the recent defeats by Kilmarnock and now Dundee are a problem because both matches were six pointers."

Dundee were the better of two bad sides during a dire opening half hour and, but for a tremendous stop from the evergreen Jim Leighton, they would have found themselves in front.

A lovely piece of skill from Francisco Luna left Russell Anderson stranded and Leighton the only barrier between the Spaniard and opening the scoring.

But his attempt to lift the ball over the former Scotland man failed as Leighton, diving at his feet, thrust up his left hand and clawed the ball away.

Astonishingly, given their present predicament, it took the Dons until the 30 minute mark to get their first effort on target-and Rachid Belabed's 35-yard shot was no tester for Robert Douglas.

However, the Dark Blues failure to match up at a couple of set pieces as the interval approached provided the home side with unexpected encouragement and very nearly goals.

First Belabed was allowed a free header from an Andy Dow corner, which he directed high over the bar, then an Eoin Jess corner found Cato Guntveit thundering in unhindered at the back post, but he lashed the ball deep into the Richard Donald stand.

A dull start to the second period was ended in acrimonious circumstances with Luna taking centre stage.

The talented forward was angrily accused by Whyte of diving under a challenge from the Pittodrie skipper and both men were booked for the flare-up which followed.

Luna then was victim of a heavy tackle from Russell Anderson-which rightly earned the Dons man a yellow card before again finding himself the subject of a diving claim when he went to ground as the ball flew invitingly across goal. He was promptly replaced by Artero.

It turned out to be inspired-though necessary as Jocky Scott admitted.

"I was also going to make a change because playing three up wasn't working and after Luna got involved in that hand bags stuff he was the one we needed to replace. I had to take Luna off because they were trying to intimidate him and he might have got himself sent-off."

With passions roused this game burst into life. Dons top scorer Arild Stavrum came within inches of claiming his 12th goal of the season when, from a suspiciously offside position, he glanced an Andreas Mayer cross off the far post with Douglas stranded.

But his opposite number in the Dundee ranks, Willie Falconer, might also have struck when he got on the end of an Artero cross only for his header to be intercepted by David Lilley.

The final 13 minutes largely belonged to the Dees-which had as much to do with the remarkable decision of Ebbe Skovdahl to replace Stavrum with a defender in Mark Perry due to the home side being down to 10 men following Whyte's dismissal for his second booking (downing James Grady)-but, if only for the lateness of their goal, it still came as something of a surprise when Artero struck.

Barry Smith (foul on Jess) was also cautioned along with Perry (for chopping down Hugh Robertson).

Match report written by The Courier