Dundee were dumped out of the William Hill Scottish Cup at Dens by St Mirren this afternoon.
The Buddies are currently seven points adrift at the bottom of the Championship table but goals by John Sutton and Jack Baird were enough to take them through to the next round at the expense of the Premiership Dark Blues.
Dundee boss Paul Hartley kept faith with the same starting XI that beat St Johnstone 3-0 on Hogmanay with Paul McGowan named skipper in place of the suspended Darren O’Dea.
St Mirren manager Jack Ross made five changes from the side that drew with Dunfermline last week but there were still places for former Dark Blues Gary McKenzie, Sutton and Gary Irvine who captained the side.
The home side came mighty close to opening the scoring in just the fifth minute when Tom Hateley slipped a pass to Marcus Haber inside the St Mirren box with the big Canadian’s fierce shot cannoning off St Mirren keeper Billy O’Brien’s right-hand post.
Dundee’s next opportunity came when Cammy Kerr cracked a shot from 22 yards with O’Brien having to pull off a superb diving save to deny him.
However, the Dark Blues were stunned in the 25th minute as St Mirren took the lead. The ball broke to Sutton with the striker drilling a low shot from just inside the Dundee box past the despairing dive of Scott Bain and into the corner of the net.
O’Brien, making his debut since joining the Buddies on loan from Manchester City, then pulled off another vital fingertip save from a Faissal El Bakhtaoui shot.
St Mirren had an astonishing let-off in the 40th minute when Hateley pulled a corner back to Kevin Holt with the defender sending a telling cross into the Buddies box but Haber somehow directed a point-blank header wide when he looked certain to score.
The same player was then presented with another great opportunity courtesy of Wighton but O’Brien again made an impressive save from Haber’s shot.
Just three minutes after the restart, Dundee fell further behind. Wighton slipped at a crucial moment allowing Stevie Mallan to cut the ball back to Jack Baird who made no mistake, shooting high past Bain.
The Dark Blues looked stunned and struggled to get back into the game with the Buddies comfortably dealing with all they could throw at them.
It could have been three in the 86th minute when another former Dundee player David Clarkson had a great opportunity but Bain blocked his shot.
The final whistle was greeted with a barrage of boos by the home support while the 523 travelling St Mirren fans began celebrating a notable victory.
For full report, reaction and analysis, see Monday’s Courier.
