Aberdeen fans turn on Stephen Glass as Leigh Griffiths helps Dundee to first win of the season

Dundee's bandaged centre-half Lee Ashcroft celebrates at full time after the 2-1 win over Aberdeen at Dens Park.  (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)Dundee's bandaged centre-half Lee Ashcroft celebrates at full time after the 2-1 win over Aberdeen at Dens Park.  (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)
Dundee's bandaged centre-half Lee Ashcroft celebrates at full time after the 2-1 win over Aberdeen at Dens Park. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)
It was a confusing one for the American television market to digest. Two sets of fans, both singing “you’re getting sacked in the morning!” at Stephen Glass as the Aberdeen manager cut a bedraggled figure in the rain.

The last thing the Dundonian wanted was to be mugged in his own hometown, not far from where he grew up in the Fintry estate. He will have ruefully noted that the game’s outstanding player, returning Dundee skipper Charlie Adam, also grew up in these streets. Talk about being done in by one of your own.

This was an uncomfortable evening for Glass, who headed down the tunnel at Dens Park to a volley of boos. Owner Dave Cormack watched this match, apparently re-scheduled for 6pm for the benefit of those in the United States, from the directors' box.

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Aberdeen’s next three games are against Hibs, Rangers and Hearts. There was some evidence of fight after they fell two goals behind shortly after the hour mark, just not enough. Christian Ramirez pulled one back for the visitors with a good finish from a tight angle after 67 minutes, which meant there was plenty of time to grab an equaliser. Not that this alone would have satisfied the 2,800 travelling support, with Aberdeen’s win-less run of matches now having reached double-figures.

They have not won a game of football since beating Breidablik on 12 August. This defeat is perhaps the worst yet since Aberdeen usually only need to turn up and collect the points against Dundee, who they had beaten in their last 13 consecutive meetings. This was the Dens Park side’s first league success over Aberdeen since December 2004.

Leigh Griffiths finally found his shooting boots for Dundee four minutes after the break - the striker had raced to the sidelines to change his footwear during the first-half.

The Aberdeen support had already started turning on the occupant of the away dugout by the time Luke McCowan added a well-finished second 13 minutes later. Playing down the Dens Park slope, Aberdeen mustered little in response save for Ramirez’s goal, after MacKenzie’s cross from the left.

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Dundee put everything into this, their first league win of the season. Centre-half Lee Ashcroft sported a head bandage at the end. There was then a long delay as Shaun Byrne was stretchered off with a serious knee injury after a clash with Declan Gallagher.

This accounted for most of the nine minutes of injury time, during which the home manager James McPake was sent-off for pushing over MacKenzie as they tussled for the ball. Every second counted by that stage – in the end, over 11 minutes were added on.

Aberdeen goalkeeper coach Gordon Marshall had already been sent to the stand on a night when the tension told in the form of several bad-tempered flare-ups.

Griffiths broke his duck after bringing down a long, high ball from Paul McMullan. Aberdeen fans might have relaxed slightly as they saw the Celtic loanee take aim with his less-favoured right foot, but the striker slipped the ball expertly under Gary Woods.

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He managed to avoid kicking anything towards anyone as he celebrated behind the goal. It was clearly a cathartic moment for Griffiths, who is still awaiting the outcome of a police investigation after flicking a flare towards St Johnstone fans last month.

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