Motherwell 3 Dundee 1: Hartley unhappy with slow start

Dundee manager Paul Hartley was unhappy with his side’s slow start during their 3-1 defeat to Motherwell.

The Dark Blues have now gone eight games without a win after losing to the Steelmen at Fir Park.

First-half goals from strikers Scott McDonald and Louis Moult gave Well a deserved interval lead and although the visitors shrugged off their first-half inertia to reduce the deficit through a deflected strike from substitute Gary Harkins in the 68th minute,

Stephen Pearson’s late goal clinched the points and leapfrogged Well above Kilmarnock into 10th place in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

Hartley said: “It was disappointing. It was a bad start to the game and we have given ourselves a mountain to climb over the last few weeks.

“We didn’t start the game well enough, didn’t defend and the goals we gave away were poor.

“I expected to rally because the first-half performance wasn’t good enough.

“We said to the players at half time that we have to try to get back into the game and we passed up good situations.

“We are on a bad run, no doubt about it, so we have to try and get ourselves a win.”