A last gasp Liam Boyce penalty meant Dundee slumped to a fifth defeat in a row as the travelled to Ross County.
It was another blow for the Dark Blues who are now very much in a relegation dogfight.
Gaffer Paul Hartley made three changes from the side that was hammered by Aberdeen on Friday, with fit-again Marcus Haber, Henrik Ojamaa and Danny Williams coming into the starting line-up for Faissal El Bakhtaoui, Tom Hateley and Nick Ross.
The Dark Blues started where they left off against the Dons _ they conceded a goal in the seventh minute. Jim O’Brien made good ground from the centre circle before feeding Liam Boyce on the left. He forced the ball into the middle past Kevin Gomis and Tim Chow was waiting to score from six yards.
Their reply was a decent header from Darren O’Dea that went a foot wide and a powerful long range effort from Mark O’Hara that was brilliantly turned away by Scott Fox in the home goal.
A Paul McGowan free kick brought another O’Dea header inside the County box. This time the effort was on target, but Staggies skipper Andrew Davies blocked.
Davies showed his skill at the other end when he curled a 30-yard free kick just wide of Scott Bain’s right post. The big defender then picked up an injury and limped off eleven minutes before the break.
Dundee felt they should have had a penalty when Ojamaa went down after a challenge from sub Jay McEveley, but referee Jonh Beaton waved play on.
In the 44th minute the ref did point to the spot and it led to an equaliser. Ojamaa chased a ball over the top and when he got into the box was brought down from Marcus Fraser. Skipper O’Dea placed the ball on the spot before hammering it past Fox and into the back of the net.
In first half injury time Boyce almost headed County back into the lead, but somehow Bain got a hand up to push the ball onto the bar before it was scrambled clear.
County had the strong wind at their backs second half and when O’Brien lobbed the ball in from the right, Bain was forced to tip it over the bar.
In the 56th minute an O’Brien cross was headed inches wide by Boyce with Bain scrambling across his line to cover. County were doing most of the attacking, but in fairness to Dundee they were battling hard and trying to get forward whenever possible.
When Boyce set up Jason Naismith for a shooting chance there were groans from the home crowd as he blasted the ball high over the bar. Then there were home appeals for a penalty when Paul McGowan appeared to handle, but referee Beaton saw nothing amiss.
Ten minutes from the end there was controversy as O’Brien went down in the box and was booked. He’d also been shown yellow in the first half, so to the fury of the home support the midfielder was sent for an early bath. That gave Dundee heart and shortly after Holt sent a shot just wide of the home goal.
With barely a minute of the 90 to go the Dark Blues were dealt a crushing blow. Cammy Kerr fouled Michael Gardyne and again the referee pointed to the spot. Boyce made no mistake, sending Bain the wrong way for the winner.
Just to add to the pain Dundee’s Danny Williams was sent off in injury time.
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