Paul Hartley Praises Dundee After 4-0 Win Over Hamilton

[JoeCovenant]

Dundee manager Paul Hartley praised his side as he watched them return to winning ways with a 4-0 win over Hamilton in the Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership at Dens Park.

The Dark Blues won thanks to Kane Hemmings’ hat-trick within 26 minutes which was added to by Greg Stewart’s 19th-minute strike to leave Hamilton with no way back.

Hartley said: “I thought we were terrific, especially in the first-half. We got some terrific goals. I thought we were a threat all day.

“It was two contrasting halves. The second-half was always going to be like that.

“We performed well in terms of not conceding. We said to them at half-time not to concede.

“I think to keep a clean sheet was really important also.

“We needed that result just to get us going again. Overall it was a really good team performance, even with the players who came on.

“I’m pleased with the players. They’ve had to put up with a lot of criticism over the past seven or eight weeks. The players have never let their heads go down with all the criticism they’ve taken.

“As a manager, we’ve tried to keep them focused. We know we’re a good team. If we can get it going, we’re a team who can cause other teams problems.

“It’s nice to be back in the top-six. That’s the pleasing thing for me before we go to Ross County next.â€

Meanwhile, Hamilton manager Martin Canning was left stunned by his side’s inadequate defensive showing.

Canning said: “I was shocked by it. It was easy to see what went wrong, it was individual errors and defensive mistakes.

“It was poor reading of the game, we didn’t do that well enough. It wasn’t anything to do with pace, if you read the game properly then you drop off and don’t get done in behind. But we didn’t do that. It was bad decisions and not reading the game.

“We didn’t defend well and didn’t win second balls. It was hugely disappointing but when you defend like that you don’t have much of a chance. We came into the game in the second half but the damage was done by then.

“I said to the boys there that it’s done.

“We just have to learn from it and come back stronger. The game is gone, we now have to work hard this week and focus on getting back on track next weekend.â€

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