With their fans getting out of their beds at dawn to shovel snow to get this game on, it would have been nice had Dundee dug deep to give them a Scottish Cup fourth-round tie to remember.
Sadly, that wasn’t the case at Dens Park on Sunday as a more accomplished and clinical Motherwell picked off the Dark Blues with four well-taken goals.
It wasn’t for the want of trying that the players failed to reward the remarkable efforts of the supporters, who joined staff to ensure the administration-hit club would not miss out on the £82,000 Sky TV windfall because of the snowfall.
It was just that the Steelmen were slicker than their hosts and had, in John Sutton (twice), Steven Jennings and Jamie Murphy, people who punished them in front of goal.
On an afternoon that brought a bit of a reality check after an excellent 10-game unbeaten run, the Dens faithful may have seen the last of Leigh Griffiths who was sent off for a terrible tackle on Steven Hammell two minutes from time.
The offence merited a straight red and with it comes an automatic one-match ban and a further two-game suspension because he has breached the penalty points barrier.
With the transfer target likely to be sold before the transfer window closes at the end of the month, there is a real possibility that ignominious exit was Griffiths’ goodbye.
“He has let down his team-mates as that looks like he will miss the next three games,” said Dundee manager Barry Smith.
“It is a team game, not about individuals. I will have a word with him it’s not acceptable in my book.Grow up”He has to grow up, and grow up quickly.”
The Dark Blues were only on the park for three minutes before Sutton got the opener, then they lost another goal just two minutes into the second half to Sutton again.
“We are disappointed at the way we started the game, and that hasn’t been like us of late,” added Smith.
“It gave us an uphill struggle just when we were thinking we should have been on the front foot.
“Then, you have your team talk at half-time and lose an early goal again that is disappointing.”
Dundee striker Sean Higgins felt sorry that the players did not do more for the supporters.
“We just didn’t do ourselves justice on the day from start to finish,” said Higgins.
“We let ourselves down and the fans as well, which is the most disappointing aspect of the whole day.
“The fans turned out in good numbers despite the tie being screened live, so we owed it to them to put on a show as much as possible.
“But we were not at the races, and I don’t think any of us could argue otherwise.
“A lot of people expected a heck of a lot more from us, but it wasn’t to be and we have nobody to blame but ourselves we have to take that on the chin.”
Higgins believed the red card for Griffiths “summed up our day.”
“We were getting frustrated and it was more down to how we weren’t performing as a team more than anything.
“But hopefully we will pick ourselves up and get on with the league campaign, which is obviously the most important thing on our minds at the moment,” he added.
New Well boss Stuart McCall claimed he feared for Hammell after Griffiths’ challenge, saying, “I thought he was going to be out for a long time. It was a bad one.
“It was a no-brainer, the sending-off. The biggest thing for me was that Hammy could get up and walk away from it.”
It was the away fans who were cheering when ex-Dundee striker Sutton notched a well-worked opener on just three minutes.
Good work by Murphy on the left saw him feed Sutton at the near post and his shot left home keeper Rab Douglas with no chance.
The Dark Blues had to wait until the 13th minute to threaten, and it was a terrific throw by Douglas that started the ball rolling.
He launched it to Craig Forsyth just inside the Steelmen’s half and the youngster then played in Griffiths.SmotherIt looked like he would score, but keeper Darren Randolph raced from his goal to smother the shot.
On 31 minutes, Well almost made it two when Douglas had to palm away a point-blank header after Sutton had connected with a Hammell corner from the right.
Griffiths raced clear at the other end but was deemed to be offside before sending his shot wide, while Murphy was enjoying himself on the left flank for Well and was unlucky to see his low crosses go without a taker.
As the second half started, the Dens men must have been desperate not to concede early but that’s exactly what happened.
It was Sutton again this time two minutes in with the Englishman racing clear just inside the box, running on then slotting home a fine strike past Douglas from 12 yards.
Dundee almost got one back quickly, with Griffiths’ deflected free-kick hitting the bar with Randolph beaten.
There was then an unsavoury moment when Higgins clashed with defender Mark Reynolds.
Dundee duo Higgins and Gary Harkins, as well as Randolph and Jennings were booked in the aftermath.
The hosts had a decent shout for a penalty turned down when Griffiths was the meat in the sandwich as he tried to get past Stephen Craigan and Tom Hateley.
Manager Smith was furious and had to be spoken to by ref Conroy.
A Harkins free-kick was well held by Randolph, then Murphy tried his luck from long-range strike.
The visitors made it three on 81 minutes when Jennings headed home a Hateley cross, then three minutes from time Murphy showed great pace to race clear again before slipping the ball past Douglas for a superb solo goal.
With the game lost, Griffiths was sent packing for his challenge on Hammell to put the tin hat on a bad day for Dundee.
Attendance 4285.
Dundee Douglas, Irvine, Lockwood, O’Donnell, McKeown, Weston, Stewart (Benedictus 63), Harkins, Griffiths, Higgins, Forsyth. Subs not used Gibson, McIntosh, Webster, Carnegie.
Motherwell Randolph, Hateley, Hammell, Reynolds, Craigan, Fitzpatrick, Humphrey, Jennings, Murphy (McHugh 89), Lasley (Forbes 85), Sutton. Subs not used Hollis, Hutchison, Casagolda.
Referee Steve Conroy.