Dundee secured victory in their opening Betfred Cup tie in a remarkable game at Raith Rovers that saw all three goals come in the final ten minutes.
New signing Sofien Moussa became an instant Dundee hero as he came off the bench to mark his debut with the opening goal. In the 90th minute, though, Lewis Vaughan struck a fine and deserved equaliser, only for Jack Hendry to grab the winner in the second minute of injury time.
The Dark Blues included five new signings in their starting line-up and the most recent arrival, Moussa, was on the bench after receiving international clearance.
They started brightly and almost had an early chance when Dens old boy Iain Davidson was short with a pass back. Scott Allan gave chase, but ‘keeper Aaron Lennox was quickly off his line to deal with the danger.
Then an attack down the left ended with a low centre from Randy Wolters and again Lennox did well to save.
Dundee were controlling most of the play, but they had a scare when Raith broke and Liam Buchanan’s low shot from distance took a deflection. It might have wrong-footed Scott Bain, but the goalie was on his toes and was able to gather safely.
When the home team attacked again the ball was set up for Lewis Vaughan to have a go and his shot was well saved by Bain, low at his right post. Raith were having a good spell and their attacks were keeping the opposition defence honest.
Dundee were continuing to have plenty possession, but Raith were having more shots on goal and when Buchanan pulled the ball down inside the box, he quickly let fly, with the result being another fine stop from Bain.
That sparked the visitors into action and after they raced to the other end of the pitch, Wolters rattled the junction of the Raith post and bar with an blistering angled drive. A couple of minutes before the break, Faissal El Bakhtaoui shot from 12 yards, but Lennox saved well.
Dundee were quickly on the front foot after the break and when a Cammy Kerr cross wasn’t dealt with by the home defence, Roarie Deacon shot over from 16 yards. They were soon back on the attack and when the ball reached Deacon again he cut inside before seeing his shot blocked.
Like the first half, Raith had taken a few minutes to get into their stride, but when they did Buchanan missed the best chance so far when he fired wide from a good position 14 yards out.
There was more danger when Greig Spence raced into the penalty area, but a superb sliding tackle from Kevin Holt denied him the chance to shoot. As Spence crashed to the deck there were appeals for a home penalty, but referee Stephen Finnie rightly waved them away.
With just over 20 minutes left, Moussa did get the chance to show the travelling fans what he could do when he replaced Wolters, who’d drifted out of the game in the second half. And he might have been the hero straight away when Allan found Paul McGowan and his low ball across goal reached the big striker. He couldn’t get it under control and Lennox saved.
Raith were sniffing an upset and when Euan Murray crossed from the left, Spence’s header was deflected just wide of Bain’s right post.
Both teams were keen to avoid a bonus point penalty shoot out and Dundee went close when a Darren O’Dea header was inches too high.
And the opener came inside the last ten minutes as an Allan free kick reached Moussa and the big man netted with a hooked shot on the turn.
In the 90th minute, though, it was 1-1 as Murray moved down the left before sending over a fine cross that was rammed home powerfully by Vaughan.
Just as penalties looked certain, another Allan ball into the middle was headed home for a dramatic winner. And after some confusion over the scorer, Hendry was given the goal despite the celebrations of El Bakhtaoui.
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