Dundee suffered their second successive defeat, losing narrowly to Hearts at Dens.
The home side were looking to bounce back after last week’s devastating Scottish Cup loss at Ibrox but lost out to a solitary Jamie Walker goal.
Paul Hartley’s side did have chances against the Jambos but they could not convert and missed out on the opportunity to hoist themselves back into the top six.
Dundee conceded just 13 seconds against Rangers last week and they came close to doing the same again against Hearts with Walker bursting through on goal shortly after kick-off but he pulled his shot wide of the target.
The Jambos built on that start and came close to scoring again in the 14th minute when Dark Blues keeper Scott Bain had to pull off a great save from a Juanma header.
Hearts threatened again in the 36th minute but Don Cowie shot over and then Jordan McGhee did have the ball in the back of the net but his “goal” was ruled offside.
Just before half-time, Arnaud Djoum passed up possibly the best chance of the opening 45 when he shot wide with the goal gaping.
Just seconds after the restart, there was another glorious goal-scoring opportunity and this time it fell to the home side with Nick Ross teeing up fellow midfielder Paul McGowan but his crisp shot was well saved by Neil Alexander.
The keeper’s heart was in his mouth shortly after when he was caught out of his goal with the ball falling again to McGowan but his shot sailed off target.
Dundee tails were up and Cammy Kerr was next to have a chance but he shot over at full stretch from six yards.
However, the deadlock was broken in the 53rd minute when Djoum played in Walker straight through on goal and this time he made no mistake, rounding Bain before calmly stroking the ball into the empty net.
The Dark Blues tried manfully to equalise and they had a great chance to do so when sub Rory Loy found himself one on one with Alexander but the keeper half blocked his shot and a defender cleared off the line.
For full report, reaction and analysis, see Monday’s Courier.