Dundee welcomed St Johnstone to the Kilmac Stadium tonight in a game that could go either way. With Dundee going into the match fresh off the back of a 3-0 victory against Motherwell at the weekend and St Johnstone narrowly losing 2-1 to Hibs with two late goals – it was all to play for.

The first chance went to Dundee which wasn’t well followed up by the players, then after seven minutes, Charlie Adam took a stunning free kick with no one following up.

Another free kick came Dundee’s way but fell into St Johnstone’s possession and kicked down the park. After nine minutes, Dundee seemed to play the ball at the back for a while until Rooney intercepted, forcing Dundee to change tactics with McGowan slowing play down on the ball, which again didn’t work for the home side with St Johnstone constantly gunning for the ball.

St Johnstone seemed to look comfortable playing up and down the park, holding more on the defensive until Adam ran through several players handing McMullan a massive chance on the 12-minute mark that was just wide of the posts.

After the offside flag went up in Dundee’s favour, there was back and forth play from both teams for a couple of minutes, neither making progress with both sides’ fans becoming angry until Fontaine pulled off a beautiful clearance leading up to another big chance for Dundee on the 16-minute mark that was quickly gathered by Clark.

It was St Johnstone’s turn to pile on the pressure with a corner taken by Crawford that looked set to go in but was cleared again by Fontaine.

Dundee had another chance at goal in the 18th minute that came off the St Johnstone’s defence to claim a corner which created a beautiful cross from Kerr only for Sweeney to clear it making the ball go wide from goal.

St Johnstone got their first real chance at goal on the stroke of the 20th minute which went wide off the Dundee line, that quickly opened another chance for Kane who also kicked it wide.

St Johnstone had another wasted opportunity when Booth managed to deflect the ball from what would have been a great goal.

Dundee quickly ran up the park with McCowan passing to no one which was a clear chance of bringing the score to 1-0 to the home side.

Adams gave a great block which was played out to Kerr who passed it out to McCowan which was brilliantly saved by Clark who tipped the ball onto the post.

At 37 minutes, St Johnstone went on a great attack, but Crawford overcooked his kick for it to land in the stand behind Legzdins.

Finally, at the 39th minute McCowan kicked to McGowan, who passed the ball to Mullen, who gave a lovely turn and shot the ball nicely in the bottom left corner giving him his third goal in three games.

St Johnstone picked up the tempo by trying to retaliate, but the ball was marshalled out by Marshall.

Danny Mullen has been in fine form for his side as of late

HALF TIME 1-0

Sub for St Johnstone – Liam Craig on for Murray Davidson

Second Half

An early corner was given to St Johnstone only for Kane to waste the opportunity that could have been an easy score. Another long ball from St Johnstone ended up well placed into Legzdins hands for him to kick to his defenders.

Clark saved a beautiful ball from Mullen, who was trying to get his second score of the night only for St Johnstone to attack and then be blocked by Fontaine.

Another wasted chance for Mullen followed up by a great run from Marshall, who won a corner kick which was taken by Adam that was headered away creating another wasted phase of play.

For 10 to 15 minutes, it was 50-50 possession with Adam’s free kick not making any progress for the home side. A great effort came from McCowan but was slightly too much with it flying over the top of the net.

At the 65th minute, St Johnstone almost scored from the boot of Vertainen, but calm hands Legzdins collected it beautifully. The Dundee defence held up well with the clock ticking with many shots from St Johnstone being deflected.

Another change for St Johnstone with Vertainen coming off for Otabor coming on and making a good impression.

It was Andersons turn to test Clark with a lovely kick of the ball that was so close it almost looked in. Otabor then quickly whipped in a great cross, but no one was there for the taking.

Dundee’s first change came at 76 minutes with Griffiths coming on for McGowan, who had a great match.

Legzdins again saved another great ball from a St Johnstone corner which after a lovely bit of play from Dundee created another failing chance for McMullan missing by the narrowest of margins. McMullan continued his lovely play in the middle of the park by taking on two of St Johnstone’s defenders and played the ball to Mullen, who was superbly blocked.

After a great corner, Griffiths puts the ball at the back of the net but was disallowed due to a foul by Sweeney.

Two minutes injury time

Dundee was given a free kick that went over the bar by Griffiths. Dundee was then given another free kick a minute later with the only yellow card of the game given to Otabor.

Full Time 1-0

Overall, the balanced display by both teams. St Johnstone never executed chances but looked comfortable in parts of play at the defence.

Dundee has now won their second game in a row pushing up to ninth in the table with 16 points. Can they keep this momentum going?

Next up for Dundee is a trip to Ibrox to face Rangers where St Johnstone is at home to Ross County.

The Dee Win Two in a Row