Dundee kicked off the Gary Bowyer era with an impressive 4-0 friendly win over Peterhead.
There were decent chances for both sides in the first half, but it was Zak Rudden’s 36th minute goal that gave the Dee the lead at half-time.
In his first game in charge, new Dark Blues boss Bowyer, who is chasing immediate promotion from the Championship, made 11 changes at the break, with Niall McGinn coming on and putting Dundee 2-0 up five minutes after the restart.
Luke McCowan got Dundee’s third goal in the 71st minute, before Josh Mulligan netted their fourth and final effort less than five minutes later.
Early chances for both sides but Rudden’s goal the difference
Both sides had early chances, with Dundee’s Paul McMullan registering the first shot of the game, which was easily gathered by Peterhead’s trialist goalkeeper, before another Blue Toon trialist had a shot deflected over the bar at the other end.
Peterhead then got a cheeky shot away, but the attempt to chip the goalkeeper was well held by a backpedalling Harry Sharp.
The best chance of the game came in the 30th minute when Dundee star Luke Strachan fired a shot from inside the box that looked certain to be going in the back of the net, but the Peterhead goalkeeper did well to push it on the bar to keep the score at 0-0.
The Dark Blues took the lead five minutes later when they hit the Blue Toon on the counter attack; Finlay Robertson switched the ball to Rudden down the right hand side, who chipped the Peterhead goalkeeper for 1-0.
Jim McInally’s side replied almost immediately when Jack Brown found himself in a decent amount of space, but his shot rolled wide of the far post, much to the relief of a beaten Sharp.
An early goal for a much changed Dundee side
Dundee boss Bowyer put out an entirely changed side for the second half, with 11 fresh players on the pitch, and it didn’t take long for them to add to Rudden’s first half goal.
Alex Jukubiak, who has struggled with injuries since signing at Dens, latched onto a Peterhead defensive error before finding Niall McGinn with a perfectly timed pass, who slotted the ball into an empty net.
Dundee got their third goal when McCowan hit a pacey shot towards goal from just inside the box, which found the bottom left corner, leaving the Blue Toon keeper with no chance.
Less than five minutes later, Mulligan got on the scoresheet when he got the better of Peterhead’s backline before rounding the keeper to pass the ball into an empty net for 4-0.
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