Peterhead 0-3 Dundee: Premiership side defeat spirited League 1 hosts in Scottish Cup

Goals from veterans Charlie Adam and Niall McGinn helped propel Premiership Dundee past spirited Peterhead and into the Scottish Cup quarter-finals.

Adam netted from the spot against the run of play with Paul McMullan fouled.

The League 1 hosts created several first-half chances and were denied a strong penalty claim of their own when Ian Lawlor clattered Ryan Duncan.

McGinn bagged the crucial second before Josh Mulligan sealed the win late on and a date with Rangers at home.

The tie at Dens Park will be played on the weekend of 12 March.

Though Peterhead continued to push in search of a comeback - until Mulligan drove home the final dagger - they lacked the ruthlessness to tee up an exhilarating endgame.

• Reaction & as it happened

Peterhead do not look like a team floundering near the foot of League 1. They were effervescent, dogged and technically compelling.

You watched them go after Dundee, create a glut of openings and be cruelly deprived of a spot-kick, and wondered how they have not won in 90 minutes since 18 December.

The first half was a tale of those two penalty claims. Both were goalkeeping gaffes and one given, one not.

At one end, and against the flow of the game, McMullan scampered into the home box and hacked the ball away on the stretch before being belted by Brett Long.

Though McMullan had little chance of reaching the ball, and was already heading to ground, the goalkeeper's collision was heavy and poorly timed. Adam calmly dispatched from 12 yards.

If that was a penalty, then Lawlor's slapstick episode certainly merited one, too. The Irishman collected an awkward pass-back on his right foot, took an ungainly touch and began to stumble.

As he plummeted towards the turf, Lawlor flung himself in front of Duncan, upending the midfielder and missing the ball.

As one, the home players, fans and bench erupted. David Munro waved play on.

Scott Brown, who has scored nine goals this season, galloped freely around the Dundee half, linking smartly with Andy McCarthy and Grant Savoury. He unleashed an early swerving, dipping strike that had Lawlor scrambling.

Moments later, Niah Payne scuffed straight at the Dundee stopper. Hamish Ritchie too brought Lawlor into action with a deflected shot from the left.

It was Ritchie who came closest to levelling on the half-volley. His effort beat Lawlor, clipped the inside of the right post, and trickled agonisingly along the line and wide.

The blue tide did not abate in the new half. If anything, it swelled stronger as McCarthy dragged one wide from the edge of the box.

The excellent Savoury won and took a free-kick 25 yards out which Lawlor leapt to his left to claw away. Ritchie continued to menace.

But Dundee's flashes of class proved fatal. They landed a devastating second blow eight minutes after half-time.

The 36-year-old Adam unleashed a soaring diagonal from left to right, dropping perfectly on to the toes of McGinn. The 34-year-old winger took a sumptuous touch with the outside of his left boot, and nutmegged Long as the goalkeeper scurried from his line.

After the old timers had their say, it was one of Dundee's young crop, 19-year-old Mulligan, who applied the icing to the cake two minutes from time, cutting inside and curling sweetly beyond Long from the left.

Man of the match - Charlie Adam

Though Adam's first-half influence was minimal, he was ice-cold when needed to score the penalty, and his assist for the second was phenomenal as he began to take a firmer grip on the midfield battleground

What they said

Peterhead manager Jim McInally: "We kept asking the players to be brave on the ball and I was proud of them because they kept at it and, if it's not for a shocking refereeing decision, who knows what might have happened?

"The referee must have been the only one in the ground who thought it wasn't a penalty and the goalkeeper should have gone."

Dundee manager James McPake: "It is Rangers [in the next round], it's going to be tough, but we are just delighted to be in the quarter-finals.

"I think our games between Rangers are close together. Our last meeting was a good game at Dens, even though it was with a different manager."