Magnificent Dundee produced their best football of the season to thrash Motherwell, thanks to a five-goal first half goal blitz.
In a stunning 45 minutes Marcus Haber scored twice, with Craig Wighton and Mark O’Hara also finding the net. The other one was an own goal.
Three of them came in the space of eight minutes and, as good as the Dens Park men were, it has to be said that Motherwell were utterly awful at the back.
Dundee couldn’t have wished for a better start.
The Dark Blues picked up where they left off against Rangers and took control of the game from the first whistle.
It was an own goal which gave them a seventh minute lead, but Paul Hartley’s men deserved their early breakthrough.
A Kevin Holt corner found its way back out of the box and when the ball was sent back in, Zak Jules could only get the top of his head to an attempted clearance and Craig Samson was helpless as it sailed over him and into the net.
Dundee were nearly gifted another when centre-back Ben Heneghan slipped as Samson played a short pass to him. Luckily for the pair of them the visitors couldn’t take advantage.
Motherwell had offered nothing in attack other than a Chris Cadden cross that was begging a striker to get on the end of it. But on 20 minutes they were level with their first shot of the game.
A long free-kick wasn’t dealt with by the Dundee defence and the ball dropped nicely for Louis Moult who gave Scott Bain no chance.
Rather than a revival though, this sparked a Motherwell collapse, with Dundee scoring three goals in rapid succession.
Haber started the goal rush with a superb diagonal finish on 27 minutes, O’Hara was equally clinical from a similar distance and then on 35 minutes Wighton buried the ball from close range.
Dundee weren’t finished yet for the first half and in stoppage time Marcus Haber nodded home a Wighton free-kick at the back post to make the half-time scoreline 5-1.
Some Motherwell fans had seen enough and made their way out of the ground and to the front door of the Main Stand to demand manager Mark McGhee be sacked.
Those who stayed weren’t much happier.
Their team was a bit better after the re-start – they couldn’t be any worse – and Bain produced a fine save to deny Craig Clay on the hour mark. Then on 67 minutes he did it again.
Darren O’Dea sliced a clearance on to the outside of the post 10 minutes later but Dundee saw the game out pretty comfortably after that.
Motherwell now look like relegation contenders, with Dundee a team very much on the up and up.
