Dundee delight as Paul Hartley salutes all-round show at Ross County
Dundee manager Paul Hartley was delighted with the commitment shown by his players in an impressive 3-1 win over Ross County at Global Energy Stadium as the Ladbrokes Premiership got under way.
A first-half double from Rory Loy, the second from the penalty spot, and a third goal from Paul McGowan put the Dark Blues well on the road to victory.
Craig Curran grabbed a consolation goal for County but the home side never looked like rescuing the situation.
Hartley said: This is a venue we've struggled with over the last few years. But I felt our discipline was terrific today. Defensively, as a team we were great - a real, solid unit.
When we got our chances we took them. I'm pleased for Rory Loy but I felt it was a real team effort today.''
Hartley, who revealed he was looking to add a centre-half to his squad by next week, added: Defence is an area we still want to strengthen but I thought, overall, the shape of the team was good. We worked on it all week. We felt County would maybe play two different systems. But the players performed really well today.''
Hartley also explained the absence of Greg Stewart, who has been targeted by Sky Bet Championship side Birmingham.
He said: Greg Stewart got injured late Thursday and we thought he was going to be okay, but didn't train. We'd expect him to be back Monday or Tuesday ... hopefully.
There are no bids. Do we expect them? Possibly, it could happen. We've rejected a couple of bids and we'll just have to wait and see.
I wouldn't like to put a figure on it. For me, he's priceless and I want to keep him here. Will they (Birmingham) come back in, I don't know?''
County boss Jim McIntyre felt the penalty decision was a big moment in the game.
He said: Bobby (Madden) says he has got a grip of his shirt, I have watched it again and there is contact with his arm, so I don't have any complaints.
The biggest thing for me will be the consistency level, and whether we get those kind of decisions, as there was a lot of bumping and barging going on. Obviously Bobby felt that denied the boy getting his head to the ball. We've got to make sure when we're defending tightly, that we don't grab people's shirts.''
But McIntyre also took positives from the performance, and added: I can't fault the players for effort in the second half. I thought they gave it everything. We had a lot of good things, but we just didn't have the cutting edge that we're normally so good at.''