Until their League Cup win two weeks ago, Dundee’s bogey team over the past few years had been Motherwell.
A 90% loss rate in the previous 10 games had seen just the one draw and nine painful defeats.
Lee Ashcroft eased some of that pain with his towering header that booked a quarter-final place.
This weekend, though, it is league action and three points on the line.
The clash is also at Motherwell, a venue where the Dark Blues haven’t tasted victory since 2017.
That last win promised a brighter future as one of the club’s favourite sons returned to save them from relegation.
They also won the previous meeting at Fir Park and in some style, too. That, though, would be the last hurrah of Paul Hartley’s time in charge.
The Premier Sports Cup win ended one ’Well hoodoo – can James McPake’s men now become the bogey side of the Steelmen with another victory?
February 25, 2017
Motherwell 1-5 Dundee
Just two seasons after finishing in the top six, the Dark Blues were in a relegation scrap.
After a dreadful start to the season the club stuck by Hartley and in February things looked to be turning around.
A 2-1 win over Rangers at Dens Park had the Dark Blues looking up again before they headed to Fir Park.
The half-time score was 5-1, the Dark Blues were merciless.
An own goal kicked things off before Louis Moult equalised. That was the extent of ’Well’s joy, however, as Marcus Haber and Mark O’Hara made it 3-1.
Henrik Ojamaa set up Craig Wighton for the fourth before Haber added No 5 on half-time.
No more goals would come in the second half. Remarkably no more wins would come under Hartley afterwards.
Just five days later, Dundee were brought back to Earth with a thump as Partick Thistle defeated them 1-0 at Dens.
That started a miserable run of seven-straight league defeats, including a 7-0 home hammering by Aberdeen with Andy Considine heading in a hat-trick.
That night, Hartley didn’t emerge to do post-match press for almost an hour after full-time. He guessed his time was up.
It wasn’t. Three more chances came but so did three more defeats and the former Celtic and Scotland midfielder was shown the door at Dens Park.
Saturday April 29, 2017
Motherwell 2-3 Dundee
The Dark Blues were in trouble. Sitting in the relegation play-off place post-split and without a manager.
Managing director John Nelms got on the phone to former Dee, now Sky Sports pundit, Neil McCann after being impressed after a meeting at a Hall of Fame dinner.
McCann put his TV career on hold to step in as caretaker and made an immediate impact.
Motherwell had also made a change – Mark McGhee was gone and Stephen Robinson had taken over.
The Steelmen were buoyant after a win over Inverness and it needed a rearguard action from the visitors to keep them out in the first half.
Against the run of play, though, O’Hara stepped up again with a big goal, poking home a rebound from a Haber shot.
The travelling support were in full voice as the second-half kicked off and they were cheering once more as Haber and O’Hara swapped roles with the Canadian knocking in a rebound for 2-0.
Moult got one back before Haber grabbed his second by 56 minutes. Chris Cadden would score late on but Dundee held out.
And they held out for a place in the following season’s top-flight, too.
McCann would take the job on full-time over the summer and set about reforming Dundee into a slick passing unit.
A promising start with the addition of players like Jack Hendry and Glen Kamara only amounted to a ninth-place finish, however.
The former Scotland winger would also head out the door after a lengthy losing streak in 2018/19.
Dundee’s record against Motherwell also went from bad to worse – until this season that is.