Dundee 2 Motherwell 2

A late Kane Hemmings' penalty earned Dundee a share of the spoils in this hard-fought Scottish Premiership match at Dens Park. Mark McGhee's Motherwell were on course to move within a point of the Dark Blues thanks to goals in the first-half from Chris Cadden and Stephen Pearson with the hosts having briefly levelled through Paul McGowan. But Hemmings dashed their hopes as he struck with an 88th minute spot-kick after Cadden had caught Kevin Holt inside the box. Darren O'Dea returned for Dundee after being ineligible for their Scottish Cup win over Falkirk as he came in for Bulgarian Kostadin Gadzhalov. In midfield, Rory Loy came in up front for the injured Nicky Low Motherwell went into this game on the back of two league defeats so had a point to prove as shown by their early opening goal. Amid the blizzard-like conditions, McGhee's men stormed ahead in four minutes. Marvin Johnson raced down the left before crossing for Cadden. He chested it down and steadied himself to send a left-foot volley high past Scott Bain, the home keeper. But, in six minutes, the hosts hit back through McGowan. With his back to goal, McGowan accepted a pass from Greg Stewart inside the box. McGowan turned to sweep a great finish into the far corner of the net past Connor Ripley in the visiting goal for his first of the season. Soon after that, Stewart went on a mazy run and crossed from the right for, but his shot came back off of the underside of the bar from just a few yards. Then, in 13 minutes, Stewart was again involved with a darting run into the box, skipping by several Motherwell challenges, only to see his eventual shot saved by Ripley. However, it was the visitors who regained the lead in 23 minutes. Latching onto a pass from Louis Moult, Pearson dribbled into the box and had enough time to pick his spot before despatching his shot beyond the reach of Bain and into the corner of the net. That gave Motherwell a huge lift and just after the half-hour mark, Moult's 25-yard clipped shot was well saved by Bain at the expense of a corner. The second-half started with Dundee claiming for a penalty on 48 minutes when Loy claimed to have been pushed, but referee John Beaton waved play on. The home team pushed hard for an equaliser after the break but their opponents came closest to scoring in 71 minutes when Moult finished from Pearson's cross, but the goal was disallowed for offside. Dundee threw on youngster Craig Wighton in a bid to snatch a late equaliser and Gary Harkins had a shot deflected wide in the dying minutes. But just when it looked like it was not going to be, Hemmings hit home from his penalty after Beaton had judged Cadden to have fouled Holt.