Postpublished at 16:10 BST 20 September
Aberdeen 0-0 Motherwell
It's a bit scruffy at Pittodrie just now. Emmanuel Longelo drives forward to power in a cross but it whizzes across the Aberdeen penalty box and away to safety.
Callum Jones scored Dundee's winning goal
At a glance
Callum Jones' stoppage-time penalty secures a win that lifts Dundee to fifth in the Scottish Premiership.
Dundee led through Simon Murray and Joe Westley, but a Clark Robertson own goal and Jeremy Bokila penalty levelled for Livingston.
Livingston drop to eighth place.
Dundee secured their first Scottish Premiership win of the season after a dramatic finale as Callum Jones' penalty deep into stoppage-time denied Livingston side a point after a heroic comeback.
Steven Pressley's side looked to be in control thanks to goals from Simon Murray and Joe Westley either side of half-time.
But Clark Robertson scored an own goal and a conceded a penalty kick as Jeremy Bokila levelled for Livingston with only seven minutes remaining, only for Jones to step up to secure the three points after Danny Wilson was ruled to have hacked down Charlie Reilly.
The win moves Dundee up to fifth place after the only top-flight game being played this weekend, with others involved in Premier Sports Cup quarter-final action.
Livingston gave as good as they got for much of the game and looked to be heading up to fifth themselves only to drop to eighth and remain winless in 20 away games in the top flight.
Dundee's Cameron Congreve, on loan from Swansea City, had already forced a save from Jerome Prior - and found the side netting - before setting up the opener.
Gathering a long cross ball on the touchline two minutes before the break, he then beat his marker before delivering a low curling cross into the path of Simon Murray for the captain to slot his third goal of the season from four yards out.
That breathed extra confidence into the hosts and Finlay Robertson had forced Prior into a save before threading the ball through for fellow midfielder Congreve to set up the second after 66 minutes.
In a carbon copy of the opener, the Wales Under-21 international's low cross was swept home by striker Westley.
Livingston were back in the game with 15 minutes remaining when Robertson deflected a low cross into the six-yard box and were level when referee Ross Hardie pointed to the penalty spot as Robertson clattered into Lewis Smith.
Substitute striker Bokila looked to have secured a draw and Smith was denied a late winner by goalkeeper Jon McCracken on the goalline before Dundee swept up the other end to win the game after a video assistant referee (VAR) check confirmed their spot-kick.
This was a game that could have gone either way and was perhaps totally unexpected considering both sides had only scored once in their latest four outings.
Pressure would have mounted further on Pressley had they been left still searching for their first league win - and even a draw would have kept them second bottom.
However, Congreve was the catalyst for Dundee establishing a lead, proving to be a worthy replacement for Yan Dhanda after setting up both goals.
And they showed great character to bounce back from losing the lead to secure victory in the dying seconds.
Livingston manager David Martindale looked gutted and understandably frustrated at the final whistle.
His side showed character of their own to recover from two goals down and very nearly won it in the end themselves.
Martindale will, though, be able to take some positives from the performance despite going five games without an away win and five without a victory overall.
Dundee manager Steven Pressley told Sportsound: "I thought for 70 minutes we performed reasonably well.
"I thought we were far more creative than we have been in recent weeks.
"I thought we showed courage as I wanted us to be more courageous in possession and I thought we did that. But also courage to go and win the game.
"And having been 2-0 up, with Livingston them showing a great reaction, we could have gone under. But no, Jon McCracken makes an incredible save, we go up the other end and get the penalty.
"I had more than my heart in my mouth [at penalty review].
"I was very hopeful. But when it's made and he's asked to review it you always have that concern. But thankfully it was given."
Livingston manager David Martindale: "The contact's initiated by the Dundee player. At the time, in real time, I thought it looked like a pen, but I watched it back and I go, 'there's no chance that's a pen'.
"The VAR officials then send a referee to the monitor, which tells me there's two people looking at footage with different camera angles, saying, 'you might have made a mistake here, I think you'd better go and look at the monitor'.
"He looks at the monitor and then says, no, it's a pen. I said to the referee after the game, 'you'd better hope you've got that right'.
"This can't keep happening. It can't. It's me that's affected this week, it'll be somebody else next week. Rangers, Kilmarnock, Celtic benefit, Hearts benefit, it can't keep happening.
"We're paying millions of pounds for people to make decisions using footage. They seem to still be getting it wrong.
Dundee visit St Mirren on Saturday, 27 September while Livingston host Rangers the following day (both 15:00 BST).
After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users.
Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals For | Goals Against | Goal Difference | Points | Form, Last 6 games, Oldest first |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 13 |
| |
5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 13 |
| |
4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 6 |
| |
5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 6 |
| |
6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 8 | -2 | 6 |
| |
4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 5 |
| |
5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 5 |
| |
6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 11 | -3 | 5 |
| |
5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 8 | -1 | 4 |
| |
4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | -2 | 4 |
| |
5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 4 |
| |
4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5 | -5 | 1 |
|
Manager: Steven Pressley
Formation: 4 - 4 - 2
Manager: David Martindale
Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1
Manager: Steven Pressley
Formation: 4 - 4 - 2
Manager: David Martindale
Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1
Scottish Premiership
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All competitions
All competitions
Dundee won each of their three league meetings with Livingston the last season the two sides faced in 2023-24 – their longest ever top-flight winning run over the Lions.
Dundee have won just one of their last 12 Scottish Premiership home games against newly promoted opponents (D4 L7), and none of their last seven (D3 L4) since beating Rangers 2-1 in February 2017.
Dundee remain winless in the Scottish Premiership this season (P5 D3 L2), while only Aberdeen have scored fewer goals (0) and earned fewer points (1) in the division this term than the Dee (3 goals, 3 points).
Livingston are winless in their last 20 away games in the Scottish Premiership (D5 L15). Only one side has gone longer without a win on the road in the top-flight in the 21st century, with Ross County going 25 without winning from September 2023 to December 2024 – a run the Staggies ended by beating Dundee.
The average age of Livingston’s starting XIs in the Scottish Premiership this season has been 28 years and 338 days, the oldest of any side. Meanwhile, Dundee rank third-youngest (25y 188d).