Dundee 0-2 St Johnstone: Rooney & Crawford earn third straight semi-final
- Published
On-loan Bolton midfielder Ali Crawford (right) sealed the win late on with his first St Johnstone goal
League Cup holders St Johnstone progressed to a third straight semi-final as Shaun Rooney and Ali Crawford netted after the break to earn a last-eight win at Dundee.
In an evenly-contested Tayside tie, Rooney - who scored winning headers in both domestic cup finals last term - steered in on 70 minutes before Crawford added a second late on.
It means Callum Davidson's side, who will find out their semi-final opponent on Thursday, will play at Hampden for a fifth time in less than a year.
For Dundee, it is now four games without a goal in all competitions and over 15 years since their last semi-final appearance at the national stadium - a Scottish Cup defeat by Gretna in April 2006.
James McPake's men were aiming to end a 15-year hoodoo, while Davidson's side were all out to retain their League Cup crown.
And it was the hosts that almost had an early upper hand as Zander Clark had to be alert to claw the ball off the line after a Dundee corner hit off defender Jamie McCart.
The visitors posed an attacking threat of their own, though, as David Wotherspoon forced Adam Legzdins to tip an effort over.
The tie continued to flow end to end as Jordan McGhee and Cammy Kerr had close-range headers saved, either side of a Glenn Middleton volley sliced off target up the other end, and Leigh Griffiths could not capitalise on a poor Rooney pass back.
The half ended goalless despite both sides troubling their opposing keepers, and the second half started in similar fashion as Griffiths had Clark at full stretch to parry away a free-kick, with McMullan scuffing the rebound.
It just would not fall for Griffiths, as the on-loan Celtic striker lashed a right-footed effort over.
Instead, it was a swipe of the right foot up the other end that broke the deadlock as the ball eventually fell to Rooney from a corner, and he turned and rolled in a tame finish via a slight deflection.
Dundee pushed for an equaliser, but found a resilient visiting backline. And it was a member of that defence who teed up the the second St Johnstone goal as Callum Booth slid a ball across the box for Crawford to guide in a tidy finish.
Man of the match - Zander Clark
The Scotland keeper has been in fine form this season and had to pull off some super stops before the opener to keep his side level
What did we learn?
With Griffiths coming in to Dundee, McPake would have been hoping he was going to provide the final touch in attack.
But it is now four games without a goal - 367 minutes from their last strike. A sore cup defeat will have to put behind them as full focus turns to keeping their Premiership survival bid intact.
There is an element of deja vu about St Johnstone's season. They started poorly last term before their League Cup push revitalised their campaign.
A first league win at Aberdeen has been followed by a quarter-final triumph at Dens Park - a 15th cup tie undefeated - the question now is whether it can it springboard the rest of their campaign.
What did they say?
Dundee manager James McPake: "I seem like a broken record. It's not just chances, it's clear-cut chances we are making. It's a problem.
"These are the big things that make the difference in you getting through in the cup or winning a league game. The plus side is we're creating them, but you can only say that for so long."
St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson: "It was a really tough game. Dundee had a go and so did we. They had the slightly better chances, but after we scored we settled down a bit.
"That's why I brought Ali [Crawford] in, for that attacking side, he gives us that other dimension, and Shaun [Rooney] seems to turn up and score these goals at the right moment. Hopefully that can continue."
What's next?
Dundee host Rangers in the Premiership on Saturday (15:00 BST) while St Johnstone go to Hibernian the following day (15:00).