Dundee Capitalizes on Motherwell's Goalkeeping Errors

Dundee punished two glaring goalkeeping errors to hand Motherwell a third straight Premiership defeat on a raw, wind-whipped afternoon at Dens Park.

Steven Pressley’s patched‑up side, missing at least five first‑choice players, climbed to fourth with a performance built on organisation, opportunism and a centre-forward playing through pain.

Westley’s courage, Paulsen’s nightmare

Dundee’s opener summed up the thin margins tormenting Motherwell. Emmanuel Longelo was penalised for a harsh handball in the box, and Joe Westley – leading the line despite a fractured cheekbone – stepped up.

Alex Paulsen read it, got both hands to the spot-kick, and still watched in horror as the ball squirmed underneath him and over the line. A save made, a goal conceded. The kind that drains a team.

If that was bad, what followed was worse.

Ryan Astley whipped in a fierce cross from the right, Bradley Fink glanced at it and, for a moment, everyone assumed it was drifting wide. Paulsen certainly did. He was already waving it past when the ball skidded off the turf, kissed the post and dropped into the net behind him.

Two efforts Dundee might not score again all season. Two moments Motherwell’s goalkeeper will replay in his head for weeks.

Pressley’s plan, notebook and all

As Dundee went 2-0 up, the cameras cut to Pressley on the touchline, head down, scribbling furiously into his Moleskine. He has described this injury-hit spell as one of the most challenging periods of his coaching career.

He got this one exactly how he wanted it.

Dundee were happy to let Motherwell have the ball. They sat in, stayed compact, and trusted their back line to repel wave after wave of patient passing. When they broke, they did it with purpose. They looked sharper, more decisive, more certain of what they were trying to do.

Westley and Astley both drew strong stops from Paulsen as Dundee threatened to run away with it on the counter. Even with a patched-up XI, they carried more menace in transition than Motherwell managed with all their territory.

Pressley has spoken about how much he “loves” this group and their response to adversity. This was another piece of evidence.

Motherwell’s pretty patterns, blunt edge

For Alfred Johansson, the frustration will be suffocating.

His team dominated the ball after the interval. They hemmed Dundee in, recycled possession, probed and prodded around the box. The numbers underline the story: 81 entries into the final third, yet only 23 touches in the penalty area.

Dundee, by contrast, needed just 36 final‑third entries to rack up the same number of touches in Motherwell’s box. One side turned territory into threat. The other didn’t.

Alex Lowry did briefly spark hope, cushioning a cross in the area and drilling home to drag Motherwell back into the contest. It was a composed finish, a rare moment of conviction in the red zone.

But that was as good as it got. Apart from a couple of efforts that forced Owen Goodman into action and a late barrage of corners, Motherwell never truly rattled Dundee. The patterns were neat, the angles clever, yet the penalty area felt like a no‑go zone.

Tawanda Maswanhise, last season’s top scorer and retained despite interest, looks like a man carrying the weight of that responsibility. The chances are not flowing and, when they do appear, the instinctive edge is missing.

Leaky at the back, timid up top

Put it together and the picture is stark. Motherwell own the second‑worst defensive record in the league and, going forward, they are too hesitant when it matters most. The build-up is easy on the eye, but it stalls just when it should bite.

That is how a team can leave Dens Park with all the ball and nothing to show for it.

There is, just about, a sliver of perspective. Under Jens Berthel Askou last season, Motherwell also started slowly. After seven games they had eight points as well – that time from five draws, one win and a single defeat.

The style now is still attractive, still brave. There is time for it to click.

But as Dundee use three weeks off to heal up and look down from fourth, Johansson heads back to Lanarkshire knowing something more fundamental has to change: not the way Motherwell reach the final third, but what they do once they’re there.