Motherwell’s hopes of crushing the Scottish Premiership title race were dealt a blow when they lost 2-1 at Dundee.
Finlay Robertson’s winner in the 84th minute marked Well’s fourth Premier League defeat of the season and only their second since October. It was the first time in 21 games that they had conceded two goals in the league.
Callum Slattery equalized for the visitors six minutes from time with a 30-yard free-kick after Tony Yogane had given Dundee a half-time lead.
Jens Berthel Askou’s side had two-thirds of possession and had nine of their 21 shots on target, but found Dundee goalkeeper Jon McCracken in excellent form as he failed to capitalize on his performance in the top three.
A win would have given them the chance to move up to second at Celtic Park next weekend. However, they are still 10 points behind leaders Hearts and closer to Hibernian in fifth.
Motherwell dominated possession from the start and consistently created decent chances.
Tawanda Maswanhise went behind and forced a good block from McCracken, who soon parried a long-range strike from Elliot Watt at his second attempt.
The visitors were pushing Dundee back and Lukas Fadinger fired wide after being denied by McCracken.
However, the home team scored its first goal in the 32nd minute of the first half. Crosses from both wings caused Motherwell trouble and Yogané knocked the ball over the line from close range after a delivery from Drey Wright.
Motherwell had conceded just three goals in their previous 16 league games but came close to conceding a further goal a minute later when Yogane headed home Cameron Congreve’s cross, leaving goalkeeper Callum Ward stranded.
Congratulations to Motherwell’s Callum Slattery on scoring the equalizer for Dundee.
Motherwell lost Fadinger to a head knock, Oscar Priestman came on and McCracken pulled off another impressive save from Maswanhise’s curling effort.
Askou brought on right-back Tom Sparrow and striker Eythor Bjorgolfsson at half-time and more urgency was immediately evident in Motherwell’s play.
But they also needed some composure and Slattery and Watt had opportunities to shoot from the edge of the box before Elijah Just fired home from a free-kick.
The Steelmen were saved by an offside flag when Dundee substitute Ashley Hay converted Congreve’s low cross after loose play by Ward.
Askou made a drastic change midway through the first half, bringing on winger Regan Charles-Cook for left-back Emmanuel Longelo.
The former Ross County man had a good chance from Just’s cross but headed straight at McCracken and Dundee immediately took advantage of the space he cleared. Congreve hit the bar with a dipped effort.
Motherwell continued to take risks and finally got some reward when Slattery produced a moment of magic after being denied by McCracken from another free-kick.
The visitors had little time to gain momentum before Joe Westley got behind the defense and allowed fellow sub Robertson to finish.
McCracken made further saves from Slattery and Maswanhise to end a disappointing afternoon for Motherwell.
