HE could have done without a manic second-half that almost spiralled out of control, but when the dust settled at Dens Park there was only one thing that mattered to Neil McCann: the three points.
His Dundee side had yet to pick up a league win prior to kick-off, but they finally overcame St Johnstone as a double from A-Jay Leitch Smith and a Sofien Moussa penalty was eventually enough to outdo Liam Craig’s two spot-kicks.
This was the type of encounter that an under-pressure manager will tell you usually doesn’t go his team’s way, but despite losing captain Darren O’Dea and assistant Graham Gartland to the wrath of whistle-happy referee Alan Muir, the Dundee manager was a happy, if also hugely relieved, man.
“I’m so proud of them,” McCann said. “They’ve stood up against a fantastic St Johnstone side who took a draw at Celtic Park so it shows you the challenge we faced. I thought we had some brilliant performances and one or two exceptional ones. I said during the week I didn’t think we were getting the results our performances deserved. I’m happy to be rolling into the Celtic game on Wednesday with three points.”
His opposite number Tommy Wright turned away in horror as Alan Mannus inexplicably dropped Darren O’Dea’s header to present A-Jay Leitch-Smith with a ninth-minute gift to mark his first Dundee start.
The Englishman added a second on 65 minutes and it looked as though he had earned a comfortable victory for his team. Then all hell broke loose.
Muir pointed to the spot after Scott Bain clumsily knocked over Graham Cummins and midfielder Craig reduced the deficit with 15 to play.
The St Johnstone captain Steven Anderson had the ball in the net again moments later only for the whistle to cut short his celebrations. If Wright was disappointed at that call he was apoplectic at the next one as Leitch-Smith was next to take a tumble inside the area and Moussa tucked away the resulting penalty on 78 minutes.
A whirlwind period was rounded off by the game’s third spot-kick and O’Dea’s dismissal for a second yellow card after he tangled with Anderson, closely followed by the protesting Gartland.
Craig swept home his second with eight to play and when five minutes of injury time went up on the board Wright will have fancied snatching a draw.
But the goal did not arrive and he was left to rue Muir’s role in denying Anderson an equaliser and the subsequent, fatal penalty award for the home side’s third.
“You can’t get away from the fact that the game has changed on two big decisions,” Wright said. “All Ando has done is get up early ahead of his man, and to then go up the pitch and give a penalty for that – it’s beyond me. I’ve went and seen him and he said it was ‘body contact’ but Richard Foster’s won the ball – it just doesn’t add up.”
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