Motherwell returned from Dens Park empty-handed after a 2-1 defeat to Stephen Pressley’s Dundee.
Joe Westley opened the scoring from the penalty spot before Bradley Fink doubled the host’s advantage with a header. Alex Lowry pulled one back before the interval, but the Steelmen were unable to find the leveller in the second-half.
Following the disappointment of Tuesday night, the Motherwell side had two changes. Ibrahim Said and Seb Palmer-Houlden were brought into the attack, with Jardell Kanga and Regan Charles-Cook dropping to the subs bench.
The early signs were positive for Motherwell, as they settled on the ball quickly. Owen Goodman was tested inside five minutes when Lukas Fadinger struck well from the edge of the box with his left foot, but the goalkeeper was a match to the strike as he dived across to his right-hand side.
Beyond that effort, the 20 minutes brought little action in front of the goal. But when Dundee earned a corner, they kept the play alive on the right-hand side with Emmanuel Longelo coming across to defend the cross. The ball struck Longelo’s arm from close-range, with VAR ordering the referee to review the footage, and he subsequently pointed to the spot.
Westley stepped up and rather unconvincingly managed to get the ball past Paulsen, despite the keeper going the right way and almost making the save. But Dundee had the advantage after 22 minutes.
Longelo looked to redeem the penalty by causing the Dee defence problems at the other end of the pitch. The full-back cut the ball back to the edge of the box from the byline. Tawanda Maswanhise walked onto the effort, but his left-footed drive was wide of the target.
Despite dominating possession, Dundee continued to look threatening going forward. Jack Moorhouse sent a ball forward for Bradley Fink to chase onto; he out-paced the defence and tried to guide the ball into the far corner. Unfortunately for him, the ball ricochet off the woodwork and away from danger.
But after 40 minutes, Dundee did get their second, and Fink got his goal. A long throw-in was only cleared as far as Drey Wright, who volleyed a powerful cross back into the box. Fink was able to get his head and the ball squeezed in off the post with a fortunate bounce off the turf, which deceived Alex Paulsen.
It looked like there would be a mountain to climb for Motherwell as they trailed by two, but Lowry cut the deficit in half as he converted from Tom Sparrow’s cross just before the half-time whistle.
Hope was restored for Motherwell, and they began the second-half searching for the second. A miscommunication from the Dundee players allowed Maswanhise to pick up the ball 25-yards from the goal, but the Zimbabwean couldn’t capitalise fully on the situation.
Paulsen was called into action twice shortly after. He produced a great save from Westley following a Dundee counter, before denying Ryan Astley as the centre-back got on the end of a corner kick.
Joe Hodge saw his strike from distance sail over the bar on 79 minutes, as Johansson’s side continued to push. The introduction of Eythor Bjørgolfsson would bring a more aerial threat for Motherwell, and when the Norwegian was wiped out by Goodman after a cross into the area, the referee and VAR took time to review the situation but deemed it not worthy enough of a penalty kick, as Dundee would then hold out for the 2-1 win.
Motherwell Team: Paulsen, Sparrow, Girdwood-Reich, Moormann, Longelo, Hodge, Fadinger, Lowry, Said, Maswanhise, Palmer-Houlden.
Motherwell Subs: Connelly, O’Donnell, Knight-Lebel, Williams, Levitt, Kanga, Bjørgolfsson, Vogt, Charles-Cook.
