The match started evenly and the first chance fell to Dundee as Zach Robinson went through on goal, but the Falkirk defence shepherded him wide and his effort was held by Nicky Hogarth. Soon after a well worked counter from The Bairns saw Aidan Nesbitt with the chance to shoot at the left-hand side of the box. His effort was deflected into the goalkeeper’s hands.

As the game approached the ten-minute mark Dundee looked certain to open the scoring in a massive chance for the hosts. A low ball across found Zach Robinson in space six yards out, before Craig McGuffie was the hero as he made a brilliant block to cut out the chance. They home fans then thought they had broken the deadlock soon after as Cammy Kerr’s shot from a tight angle hit the side netting. Dundee controlled the game for much of the first half hour and looked the more threatening of the sides without creating many clear-cut chances. The best of these came 27 minutes in when a dangerous ball in from Tyler French forced Nicky Hogarth to dive out and palm away.

Falkirk began to come into the game again in the closing third of the half and had a big chance with ten minutes left of the opening period. A great bit of play from Juan Alegria to beat two men saw him free in the left-hand side of the box to cut back to Callumn Morrison, who couldn’t quite get the ball out from under his feet to get a shot away. Lyall Cameron dragged a shot wide with five minutes left in the half, but the final chance was to fall to Falkirk. Coll Donaldson drove forward in a great run before playing a really dangerous cross over to Callumn Morrison. Lee Ashcroft was in front of the Falkirk man and was forced to try and play it behind, clipping his own post in the process.

The Bairns started the second half slowly, and Dundee took advantage as they opened the scoring ten minutes after the break. Lyall Cameron was slipped in down the right-hand side of the box and slotted past Nicky Hogarth to put the hosts in the lead. Falkirk found it difficult to hold onto the ball after going a goal down and Dundee dominated much of the next twenty minutes, with the only real Falkirk chance coming as a Leon McCann shot from range was blocked.

John McGlynn changed things at the 70-minute mark, bringing on Rumarn Burrell and Ola Lawal, and the latter should’ve drawn Falkirk level as Callumn Morrison found him with a great cross but he couldn’t convert. Dundee then made Falkirk rue the missed chance as Lee Ashcroft headed in from a corner to double their lead on 80 minutes.

Dundee added a third late on as Gary Oliver was judged to have handled the ball in the box and shown a straight red card. Zach Robinson made no mistake with the resulting penalty to seal the win for the hosts as The Bairns exited this year’s Premier Sports Cup at the Round of 16 Stage.

Full Time: Dundee 1-0 Falkirk

Attendance: 3195

FALKIRK: Hogarth, Yeats, Donaldson, Mackie, McCann, Henderson, Oliver, Nesbitt, McGuffie, Morrison, Alegria

Subs: Martin, Sneddon, Ross, Hetherington, Carroll, Lawal, Burrell

DUNDEE: Sharp, Kerr, French, Sweeney, Ashcroft, Mulligan, Robinson, McMullan, Williamson, Cameron, Grayson
Subs: Legzdins, McGhee, McGowan, McGinn, Robertson, Anderson, Strachan