Dundee vs St Mirren. Scottish Premiership.
The Scot Foam Stadium at Dens ParkAttendance5,496.
Report as Dundee thrash third-place St Mirren 4-0; hosts move fifth after two goals from Amadou Bakayoko, plus a Zak Rudden penalty and a Zach Robinson strike; Dundee now two points behind St Mirren in Scottish Premiership table
Saturday 11 November 2023 21:08, UK
Dundee made it two Premiership wins in a row as they swept St Mirren aside 4-0 at Dens Park.
The victory came thanks to an Amadou Bakayoko double, with Zak Rudden also netting from the penalty spot and substitute Zach Robinson scoring a fourth late on.
The win moved Dundee up to fifth in the Premiership table, just two points behind the Buddies in third.
Dens manager Tony Docherty made just one change from the side that beat Livingston last Sunday, with Malachi Boateng coming in for Mo Sylla, who dropped to the bench.
Buddies boss Stephen Robinson also made one change to the team that drew with Hibernian in midweek, with Keanu Baccus replacing ill skipper Mark O'Hara.
The hosts wasted a gilt-edged opportunity to open the scoring in the second minute when Rudden robbed St Mirren defender Richard Taylor but, with just goalkeeper Zach Hemming to beat, the striker smacked his shot off the post.
However, the Dark Blues had another chance in the 16th minute - and this time they took it.
Owen Beck swung a corner in from the left, with the ball only being cleared as far as Bakayoko, who clinically drilled a low shot past Hemming and into the back of the net.
The Buddies looked to respond, with Conor McMenamin making room for a shot, but he dragged his effort wide of home goalkeeper Trevor Carson's left-hand post.
As the half-hour mark approached both sides were struggling to carve out further clear-cut chances, with too many attacks breaking down before they had fully developed.
However, the Dark Blues doubled their advantage in first-half stoppage time.
Another Beck corner was headed on by Antonio Portales, with the ball hitting Marcus Fraser's arm and referee Matthew MacDermid had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.
Rudden stepped up to take responsibility and hit an empathic penalty into the back of the net, sending Hemming the wrong way.
Buddies boss Robinson rang the changes at the break, bringing on four subs, but the Dark Blues scored their third of the afternoon in the 57th minute.
Rudden broke down the right and hit a fierce shot that was saved by the diving Hemming, but Bakayoko was on hand to gleefully slot home the rebound.
Dundee did net their fourth in the 85th minute to complete a miserable day for St Mirren, with Luke McCowan breaking forward before laying off a pass to Robinson, who shot past Hemming for his first Premiership goal of the season.
Dundee boss Tony Docherty: "I thought it was an overall fantastic team performance. It doesn't surprise me, we've been showing levels of real quality.
"We picked them off and the real pleasing aspect for me is that teams are always going on about us scoring from set plays. But we scored two goals from open play.
"To get all your strikers on the scoresheet and to get a clean sheet is particularly pleasing.
"As a squad and as a staff we will never get carried away. It's always about your next game and it's always about improvement.
"We'll dust ourselves down, it's just one game and we'll take the three points and look forward to another game here at home to Hibs."
St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson: "I think I would be making excuses. As a collective and myself included, it wasn't good enough.
"We started really poorly and we got a wake-up call when Rudden hit the post - we were sleeping.
"But we didn't respond to it. Probably the biggest disappointment is we made it very clear as a group that set plays were their biggest threat.
"Every single player had an off day outwith Scott Tanser who got pass marks just.
"We haven't become a bad team overnight. We will get criticised for the performance and rightly so.
"I maintain we need to stay in the division. That hasn't changed.
"We are a good side with good players and good characters who will respond. We have had a very good start to the season, the league table doesn't lie overall and we deserve to be where we are.
"But certainly on the performance today it is a reset - it needs to be reset and we need to get back to doing what we were doing before."
Dundee's next Scottish Premiership match is at home to Hibernian on November 25, while St Mirren host Livingston
Both games kick-off at 3pm.
