Joe McConnell
Dundee moved to the top of the newly formed Scottish Premiership by capitalising on a disastrous first-half display from Hearts to win 3-1 at Dens Park.
The Dark Blues found themselves 3-0 up at half-time, when a mistake from goalkeeper Zander Clark opened the scoring for Scott Tiffoney before Gerald Taylor’s own goal was quickly followed by a Luke McCowan penalty in injury time at the end of the first half.
After the break, Hearts played with more determination and scored the equaliser through Frankie Kent, but the hosts held firm for the rest of the match, edging out Rangers on goal difference.
Both teams made one change to their lineups that started their respective draws against Dundee United and Rangers on the opening day, with Dundee striker Tiffoney replacing Luke Graham, while Hearts defender Daniel Oyegoke replaced Yan Dhanda.
After a quiet opening quarter in which Dundee’s Lyall Cameron and Kenneth Vargas both threatened with shots from outside the box, the home team took the lead in the 23rd minute thanks to some sloppy defending from Clark.
Under no pressure, the Scotland international mis-kicked a routine clearance from the edge of the penalty area straight to McCowan on the edge of the centre circle. The captain passed the ball forward to Tiffoney, who burst into the box and cut in from the left before beating the back-pedalling Clark too easily with a low, angled shot from 15 yards.
Scott Tiffoney scores to make it 1-0 for Dundee
In a rare first-half opportunity for the visitors, Lawrence Shankland saw a shot from the corner of the penalty area blocked by Dundee goalkeeper Jon McCracken on the half-hour mark, after Kent had headed in Barrie McKay’s corner.
The hosts almost doubled their lead in the 36th minute when Seb Palmer-Houlden pounced on Ziyad Larkeche’s long diagonal pass and saw his powerful shot parried by Clark before Cameron sent the rebound straight into the keeper’s arms.
Hearts completely imploded in the closing stages of the first half. There was a critical moment in the 43rd minute when Taylor caught Tiffoney with a reckless foul and was shown a yellow card. Dundee felt it should have been a red and manager Tony Docherty was booked for his angry protests while the referees stood by their initial decision after a VAR review.
Dundee players celebrate their first-half debut
However, Docherty would have been pleased to see Taylor still on the pitch as time entered stoppage time, after the Costa Rican had completely botched his attempt to clear a Simon Murray cross and slotted the ball into his own net from 10 metres.
Surprisingly, Hearts were to face further difficulties before half-time, when Kent tripped Tiffoney as the Dundee striker tried to break free in the box and McCowan fired the penalty to Clark’s right and into the net.
Hearts manager Steven Naismith responded by making three changes at the start of the second half: Oyegoke, Jorge Grant and McKay were replaced by Malachi Boateng, Yutaro Oda and Dhanda.
Hearts’ Cammy Devlin looks dejected
Dundee thought they had scored a fourth in the 51st minute when Palmer-Houlden’s pass was blocked from close range by Cameron, but – after a lengthy VAR review – the goal was eventually disallowed for a handball by Mo Sylla in the build-up.
After substitute Dhanda came close to scoring, Hearts got back into the game in the 61st minute when Kent headed in Boateng’s cross, but Dundee, despite Larkeche being carried off on a stretcher, managed to keep the visitors at bay.
Docherty delighted with first half performance
Dundee’s Luke McCowan celebrates scoring a penalty against Hearts
Dundee boss Tony Docherty: “I felt like it was almost a complete team performance. I’ve seen a lot of good performances, but this was the best I’ve ever seen in the first half.
“I thought it was a real top performance and it should have been against a really good Hearts team. We executed the game plan to the letter and I thought we deserved to be 3-0 up.”
Dundee defender Ziyad Larkeche was carried off on a stretcher in the second half, but Docherty allayed fears that the Frenchman had suffered a serious injury.
“He’s fine, we had a little scare,” the manager said. “But the doctor and physiotherapist assessed him and he’ll be fine.”
Naismith: We ruin ourselves
Hearts boss By Steven Naismith: “I’m disappointed, we got credit for last week’s performance, but we were really poor in the first half here. The first 20 minutes were a struggle and we were second to everything, it looked like they were picking up second balls. We weren’t aggressive enough.
“It was like déjà-vu from the first game here last season. [a 1-0 win for Dundee] where we were slow and slow and they had the upper hand at 50-50.
“The three goals were poor, we were the ones who ruined ourselves, we didn’t defend well enough and we conceded them some chances.
“But in the end we didn’t have enough energy and that cost us the three points. The energy from last week wasn’t there.”
