Dundee 1 Hearts 0: Scent packing

IT was perhaps not the most subtle or erudite effort at mind games, but John Brown's message was clear enough.

Asked how St Mirren will feel after this victory enabled his Dundee side to narrow the gap between the two teams at the bottom of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League to eight points with three matches to play, the Dens Park manager inhaled, then growled: "I think you'll be smelling it from them. Unless they've got plenty of Old Spice to cover it."

Colourful, yes, tasteless, probably, but the claim fails to sum up a situation that shifted dramatically during the final moments of yesterday's games. In the space of a few minutes, Dundee were relegated, safe, then relegated again before Leigh Griffiths' late leveller for Hibernian against St Mirren hauled them back into the fight. Indeed, once the hosts scored through Ryan Conroy with 10 minutes to play, Dens degenerated into a contest between the two sets of fans celebrating the exchange of goals at Easter Road. What happened here had ceased to matter.

Still, regardless of this win over Hearts, the odds remain heavily stacked against Dundee. Indeed, a quirk of the fixture list means their relegation could be effectively confirmed before they face Aberdeen next Sunday should their Paisley rivals take even a point at Tynecastle on Saturday afternoon. Still, Brown was not prepared to let that cloud his debut afternoon in permanent charge, or take the sheen from a fourth win in nine matches. Little wonder given how Dundee had to toil to earn the points, even after Hearts were reduced to 10 men with more than an hour remaining after the dismissal of Andy Webster.

Dundee's advantage – cancelled out by Nicky Riley's 87th-minute sending-off – enabled them to enjoy the better chances but they were frustrated by familiar failings in front of goal. John Baird and Carl Finnigan were bright and eager but have scored six between them this term, while the absence of Gary Harkins – who may miss the final three games of the campaign with a cracked rib – deprived Dundee of refinement and composure in the final third and meant carving clear opportunities was more of a challenge.

Consequently, the Dens Park side's most likely source of success was set pieces. Kyle Benedictus' rasping free-kick forced an alert stop from Jamie MacDonald, both Baird and Lewis Toshney had efforts at goal from consecutive corners, then Jamie Walker almost gave them a helping hand when he sliced a Matt Lockwood free-kick into the arms of his own goalkeeper. Jim McAlister also found MacDonald's grasp with a tame header but the Hearts custodian was beaten just after the interval, Brian Easton's header from Conroy's corner cannoning against the goal frame before bouncing to safety.

Conroy came on at the interval as Brown decommissioned his initial 5-3-2 formation, and heightened the threat with his dead-ball deliveries. He almost scored with a dipping shot of his own, too, but still Dundee could not fashion the goal that would have prolonged their top-flight status. Declan Gallagher headed over from another Conroy corner amid a period of sustained pressure but, just as the home supporters began preparing for the worst, their side finally broke through. It might not have been his sweetest strike but Conroy's free-kick took a wicked deflection off Ryan Stevenson and spun away from a helpless MacDonald to nestle in the net.

Amid the fraught moments that followed Riley was red carded, apparently for raising his arms to Kevin McHattie – "He was stupid but in my day you could give out right hooks," said Brown – but it was an earlier dismissal that had more of an impact. Hearts were effectively hamstrung by the sending-off of Webster; reduced to defending deep and trying to counter attack. They failed.

The Hearts captain had grown increasingly riled by the persistent presence of Finnigan, escaping censure on a couple of occasions before being booked for a particularly rough challenge on the striker. That, however, only stoked his ire. Indeed, the game was still short of the half-hour mark when John Beaton was forced to act again, Webster appearing to lead with an arm in a reckless aerial assault that left both players grounded. The referee, having considered his verdict while treatment was administered, waited for the Scotland internationalist to haul himself from his haunches before brandishing the yellow card for a second time. "I'd rather not talk about it; I'll just get myself into trouble," said Gary Locke, the Hearts manager. "The two of them are going for the ball and clashed heads so to say I'm unhappy is an understatement."

Locke was more content with the resilience and organisation of his side but, in truth, the visitors rarely looked like scoring. Dale Carrick lashed wide and Stevenson was thwarted by Steve Simonsen, but the closest Hearts came was when Simonsen took two attempts to smother Jamie Hamill's brutal free-kick. Brown and Dundee will be hoping that they come a whole lot closer against St Mirren on Saturday.

Taken from the Herald