Dundee 1-0 Motherwell: ‘Poor, cheap goal’ put us out of Premier Sports Cup says manager Graham Alexander

’Well crashed out at the second round stage at Dens Park, with fellow Premiership side Dundee going through to the last eight thanks to Lee Ashcroft outjumping the visitors’ rearguard to head home from close range following Paul McMullan’s corner with just 12 minutes remaining.

“Bitterly disappointed,” Alexander said. “I don’t think we did enough to win the game.

"It’s a bitter pill to swallow because we got beat and we’re out of the cup.

"We worked hard in pre-season to get through to this round. Unfortunately we’ve been knocked out and we have to lick our wounds and work hard.

“It’s a tough game. We have to work exceptionally hard on the training pitch to make sure we go into games and perform better than we did today.

"It was a really poor and cheap goal for us to concede and lose from.

"I didn’t think there was anything from either team to suggest they deserved to win it.”

Dundee had been thrashed 6-0 at Celtic in the league on their previous outing but were fast out of the traps against the Steelmen.

Away keeper Liam Kelly saved from Jason Cummings and Christie Elliott before ’Well missed a great chance to score when Connor Shields shot powerfully against the bar from a Steven Lawless pass.

The second half saw Kelly make further stops from Jordan McGhee and Charlie Adam, before home keeper Adam Ledzgins kept out Shields’ close range effort at the other end.

The Dark Blues thought they had broken the deadlock when Cummings turned in a Luke McCowan cross but the ‘goal’ was disallowed for offside.

Then came Ashcroft’s winning header.

Alexander, speaking to the club’s website, said: "It wasn’t a wonderful setpiece but we lost a duel.

"But from our performance point of view, we didn’t do enough to win the game.

"I think we have to look at what we do off the ball and on the ball.”