Dundee 1 Hibs 2

A brace from Kieron Bowie was enough to see off Dundee and claim all three points from our opening William Hill Premiership fixture of the season.

Despite our midweek exertions in Europe, we dominated the match and could’ve won by more than the eventual slender advantage we held.

Scotland international Bowie scored both our goals with two clinical finishes during the first half.

Fin Robertson reduced the arrears to give his side hope however Dundee remained second-best all over the park and we were comfortable throughout.

It was a terrific response from the boys following the last-gasp heartbreak we experienced against Midtyjlland on Thursday.

Head coach David Gray went with virtually the same side that played 120 minutes against the Danes in Europa League qualifying.

The only change to our starting XI saw Junior Hoilett replacing Jamie McGrath. Nicky Cadden, a midweek substitute, picked up an injury against Midtyjlland and was missing from the squad altogether today.

For Dundee, it was manager’s Stephen Pressley’s first Premiership match in charge of the Dees and he went into it without talismanic forward, Simon Murray.

We took to the field at a sun-soaked Dens Park in our new yellow and green away kit and were backed by a sold-out away end.

Lining-up in our usual 3-4-2-1 formation we started brightly and forced the hosts onto the backfoot but putting them under early pressure through a series of corner kicks.

Despite enjoying the lion’s share of possession in the opening exchanges we were unable to create any meaningful opportunities from which we could test Jon McCracken in the Dundee goal.

With a win each and a draw from the three games between the team it was unsurprising that there wasn’t too much between the teams however that would change in the 28^th minute.

The Dundee defence made a mess of clearing their lines and Bowie reacted quickest to pounce on a ricochet to drill a low shot on the turn past McCracken and into the net for his first goal of the season.

Just two minutes later it was 2-0 as Jack Iredale’s diagonal ball over the top found the run of Jordan Obita, his shot was saved by McCracken however Bowie was on hand again to sweep it home.

We were looking comfortable in the game however a mistake from Iredale only moments later allowed Ashley Hay to steal possession and from his cut back Robertson reduced arrears from close range.

We tried not to let Robertson’s goal impact our mindset and were soon back on the attack with Bowie going down in the Dundee box after collision with Luke Graham only for the officials to wave away his appeal.

In first half stoppage time Hoillet drove down the left flank before cutting inside, Imari Samuels attempted to get his foot in to take it away from the winger only to knock it into path of Levitt, who tried a first time shot from 25 yards that flew over the crossbar.

Moments later Bowie rolled his marker on the edge of the Dundee box before his low shot was held by McCracken as we continued to push for a third goal.

Dundee was happy to sit off us when we had possession at the back and that didn’t go down well with the home support as they demanded urgency whilst we remained in complete control.

Home boss Pressley needed to change something to ignite a spark in his men and his response was to make four substitutions.

For the first time arguably in the whole game Dundee began to exert some pressure on our backline however the boys stood tall - as they had all afternoon - to see the game out and claim full points from our opening league fixture.

Attention now turns back to European football and an away trip to face FC Partizan in Serbia on Thursday evening.