Tony Docherty was thrilled after Dundee came up with “a complete” away performance to defeat Motherwell and earn their first league victory since August.
The Dark Blues made the trip to Fir Park on the back of a five-match winless run and having suffered a late collapse in their previous match against Kilmarnock.
After controlling long spells, they deservedly opened the scoring seven minutes before half-time when Lyall Cameron slammed home after Simon Murray had an effort well blocked.
Dundee showed a different side of themselves after the break, defending in numbers during the final minutes.
“I think the players deserve a huge amount of credit for getting the reward they’ve deserved for quite a while,” Docherty said.
“I’ve been really pleased with the performance levels, but more pleasing than that, we went into an international break where we had to reset.
“I think through a season you get different types of wins – that was a big win.
“It was documented that going into the international break, we had a couple of losses that we had to respond to.
“We’ve learned our lesson from the previous game and that performance against a good team away from home displayed everything.”
Docherty made four changes to the side defeated by Killie, one of which saw Trevor Carson replace Jon McCracken in goal.
It was a change that was to pay dividends as the Dundee skipper inspired his team to a first clean sheet of the season.
Docherty added: “We did a lot of work on the training ground and in the analysis room all about keeping a clean sheet – today you saw a complete performance away from home.
“The clean sheet and togetherness pleased me most.
“I thought we were excellent on the ball and created numerous chances in the first half. Then when tested and asked questions we stood up to that.”
Frustrated Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell felt his side were well below their usual levels as they suffered defeat at home for the first time this season.
Motherwell threw everything at finding a leveller, however, were unable to find a breakthrough.
“I think Dundee deserved to win the game, I’m not going to try mask around it,” Kettlewell said.
“We weren’t anything close to what we have been to get a really good start to the season and looked a little bit dazed in our decision making and our quality.
“Even in moments towards the end of the first half in particular with our defending, it looked a little bit chaotic at times.
“I don’t feel we created enough to merit staking a claim for saying we deserved to take anything from the game – I expect better from what the players have shown to this point.”
