Sighs of relief at Hearts, Celtic and Rangers as Motherwell juggernaut hits buffers in Dundee

That statistic alone meant the sustained applause of these supporters following the 2-1 loss to Dundee was understandable. Manager Jens Berthel Askou stood in front of them and applauded back for a considerable time. A game some Motherwell fans labelled their most important league fixture of recent times had not gone as they wanted but some realism had to be applied.

Gone are the days when these clubs could attract a record 136,000 crowd – the number that watched their Scottish Cup final in 1952. One must go back even further for Motherwell’s sole league championship in 1932. These days were evoked again in recent weeks as Motherwell attracted plaudits as well as points for their style of play. Chris Sutton even claimed they are playing the best football in Britain.

All well and good of course. But with expectations rising, could they do it on a sunny afternoon in Dundee? They couldn’t if all that mattered was securing the three points to truly put the pressure on those above them. In the end, they came away with nothing at all. Their play might have merited more but at this stage of the season, it’s all about the tangibles. Has Motherwell’s title goose been cooked? Perhaps not completely but the likely sigh of relief from Hearts, Rangers and Celtic on hearing the score from Dens Park says it all.

Dundee have lately been playing some better football themselves. "Pressleyball," as fans have dubbed it. Although the reception was undoubtedly cool when Steven Pressley was appointed manager, it’s clear he’s burrowing deeper and deeper into supporters' affections. It won’t have escaped their notice that a bold triple substitution after 61 minutes that involved taking off skipper and talisman Simon Murray had a profound impact on the game. All three oncoming players contributed to Dundee’s winner with five minutes left after Callum Slattery had equalised with a stunning free-kick seven minutes earlier.

Fin Robertson’s cool finish proved decisive. Fellow subs Ashley Hay and Joe Wesley were involved in the build up, the former winning a header and the latter picking up Cam Congreve’s through ball before advancing into the box and teeing up Robertson, a boyhood Dundee fan. Despite making his debut as long ago as 2018, this was only his second league goal. He is still only 23.

Late goals are the norm with Dundee

The hosts went ahead after 32 minutes through 20-year-old Tony Yogane’s first goal for the club and his first in senior football full stop. Shortly after having squeezed in a shot in at far post from Drey Wright’s deflected cross, he almost scored with a header. “I would have gone home had that gone in,” said Pressley, who worked with the on-loan player at Brentford. He smiled that he didn’t think he’d ever seen Yogane even head the ball.

No one was advised to head home early. Late goals have been a staple of recent Dundee games. It was also an engrossing game on a tricky surface.

Still, the visitors did their best to remain as faithful to their slick passing philosophy as possible. The way they always found space on the edge of the Dundee box felt like sorcery at times. Either that or they had sneaked on two extra players. Dundee had to rely on goalkeeper Jon McCracken keeping them in the game with three superb stops. One of them down low to his right from Lukas Fadinger was a save of the season contender. Dundee went ahead minutes later after Motherwell defender Emmanuel Longelo inadvertently flicked on Wright’s cross for Yogane at the far post. Pressley remained unmoved, his spectacles glinting in the bright sunshine.

Motherwell were out early for the second half, as if illustrating their desire to quickly make amends for a first half in which they saw a lot of the ball but could not execute the required precise finish. A huge 45 minutes lay ahead as they sought to preserve their title dream. Slattery’s superb curling free-kick from 25 yards after a disputed foul by Yan Dhanda on half-time substitute Eythor Bjorgolfsson - Dundee fans felt it was the other way around – saw players and coaching staff bolting out of the away dugout to join in the celebrations.

They clearly felt a win was still possible in the time left, which proved correct. But rather than Motherwell putting the heat on Rangers and others, it saw Dundee jump Aberdeen into eighth place.