Dundee see off battling Peterhead to book Scottish Cup quarter-final spot

Posted Tuesday, February 15, 2022 by PA

Dundee were made to work before booking their place in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup with a 3-0 win at determined Peterhead.

Charlie Adam opened the scoring with a 33rd-minute penalty before Niall McGinn’s first Dundee goal gave the cinch Premiership side some breathing space.

Former Peterhead loan signing Josh Mulligan capped the win with a late third.

The League One hosts gave a good account of themselves in the opening stages, taking the game to the visitors, with captain Scott Brown testing Ian Lawlor in the Dundee goal with an early drive.

The goalkeeper was called into action again to deal with Hamish Ritchie’s low ball to the near post but comfortably smothered it.

Dundee were restricted to a number of corners without testing Peterhead goalkeeper Brett Long.

But a moment of quality brought the opening goal.

McGinn slipped a neat pass through to Paul McMullan and the winger did just enough to draw a late challenge from Long, with referee David Munro wasting no time in pointing to the spot.

Adam stepped up to dispatch the spot-kick into the bottom-right corner, with Long going the other way.

Peterhead responded well and thought they had levelled when Niah Payne crossed for Ritchie, only for his effort to come off the inside of a post and roll agonisingly across goal before going out for a goal-kick.

And they might have had a penalty a minute before the break when Lawlor’s poor touch from a back-pass invited on-loan Aberdeen winger Ryan Duncan to take possession.

He appeared to be fouled by the goalkeeper, but this time Munro was unmoved, to the disgust of the home support.

The hosts were undeterred, with Andy McCarthy flashing an effort wide of goal early in the second half before Grant Savoury saw a free-kick from 20 yards pushed away by the diving Lawlor.

Peterhead were hit with a sucker punch, though, after 53 minutes.

Adam sent a superb pass over the top for McGinn, who beat Andy McDonald to the ball and then coolly fired past Long.

Lawlor was forced into a further save when he turned a curling Payne effort round a post, but Peterhead were unable to fashion more in the way of clear-cut chances.

And the result was put beyond doubt when Mulligan, who spent the first half of the season at Balmoor, curled in neatly from a McGinn pass to complete the scoring.