Dundee Secures First Scottish Premiership Win of the Season with 3-1 Triumph Over Hearts
Dundee made a big impression by defeating Hearts 3-1 at Dens Park to secure their first victory of the year in the Scottish Premiership.
Dundee jumped to the top of the table with a strong first half performance, taking advantage of defensive blunders and calculated plays.
After a mistake from goalkeeper Zander Clark allowed Scott Tiffoney to open the score, Gerald Taylor’s own goal and a Luke McCowan penalty in stoppage time at the conclusion of the half put the Dark Blues ahead 3-0 at the interval.
Frankie Kent gave Hearts a goal back during the half, but the hosts held strong for the rest of the game to move above Rangers on goal differential. Hearts had played with greater purpose after the break.
Luke Graham was replaced by Dundee United attacker Tiffoney, and Hearts defender Daniel Oyegoke took Yan Dhanda’s position in the starting lineups for both teams’ opening-day draws against Rangers and Dundee United.
Following a quiet first quarter in which Lyall Cameron and Kenneth Vargas of Dundee threatened with long-range efforts, the home team took the lead in the 23rd minute thanks to some careless goalkeeping from Clark.
The Scotland international miskicked a basic clearance right to McCowan on the edge of the center circle, and he did it without any pressure. Tiffoney beat the back-pedalling Clark with an easy low-angled effort from 15 yards out after the captain pushed the ball forward to him. Tiffoney drove into the area and cut in from the left.
Lawrence Shankland had a rare chance for the visitors in the first half when, thirty minutes after Kent had headed on Barrie McKay’s corner, the Dundee goalkeeper Jon McCracken charged down a shot from the angle of the six-yard box.
In the 36th minute, Seb Palmer-Houlden raced on to Ziyad Larkeche’s long diagonal cross and saw his powerful effort knocked away by Clark before Cameron smashed the rebound into the ‘keeper’s arms, giving the hosts an almost two-goal lead.
In the last moments of the first half, Hearts absolutely collapsed. A tense moment occurred in the 43rd minute when Taylor recklessly challenged Tiffany and was given a yellow card. Dundee felt it should have been a red card, and after a VAR review, manager Tony Docherty was cautioned for his irate protestations. However, the referees remained with their original call.
But as the half went into stoppage time, Docherty would have been relieved to see Taylor remaining on the field after the Costa Rican mishandled his attempt to clear a Simon Murray cross and hammered the ball low into his own net from ten yards out.
Surprisingly, Hearts were about to suffer even more before the half when McCowan’s spot-kick found its way into the net to Clark’s right after Kent had tripped Tiffoney while the Dundee forward was attempting to break free in the box.
In response, Hearts manager Steven Naismith made three substitutions at the beginning of the second half: Yutaro Oda, Dhanda, and Malachi Boateng took the places of Oyegoke, McKay, and Jorge Grant.
After a protracted VAR examination, Palmer-Houlden’s cutback was eventually ruled out for a handball by Mo Sylla in the build-up, giving Dundee the impression they had scored a fourth in the 51st minute.
Hearts equalized in the 61st minute when Kent nodded in Boateng’s cross, following a close attempt by substitute Dhanda. However, Dundee, who had Larkeche stretchered out, managed to keep the visitors at a distance after that.
Boss of Dundee, Tony Docherty, stated:
It seemed to me like an almost flawless team effort. That was the best performance I saw in the first half of the many excellent performances I have seen.
“It had to be against a really strong Hearts team, and I thought it was a really outstanding performance.” We executed the game plan perfectly, and in my opinion, we deserved to lead 3-0.”
While Ziyad Larkeche, a defender for Dundee, was carried off the field on a stretcher during the second half, Docherty allayed concerns that the Frenchman had sustained a major injury.
The manager answered, “He is fine, we got a little fright.” “But the doctor and physio have assessed him and he’ll be okay.”
Steven Naismith, the Boss of Hearts, stated:
“I’m unhappy; we played well last week, but we struggled mightily in this game’s first half. We were always in the background and seemed to be picking up the second balls during the first twenty minutes of the fight. Not aggressive enough, we thought.
“It felt familiar, like we were playing the first game up here last season [Dundee won 1-0], when we were slow and lethargic and they won the 50-50s.
“Those three goals were awful; we created our own problems by failing to defend well and giving them the opportunity. “But in the end, we lost the three points because we were lacking in energy. There wasn’t the same enthusiasm as last week.”
