Two more goals from in-form Kane Hemmings saw Dundee leapfrog their struggling Tayside neighbours to move into fifth spot in the Premiership just behind Ross County in the race for a possible European spot.

January’s SPFL Premiership player of the month took his tally to 12 goals in nine matches with a strike in each half to reward a performance which saw his team comprehensively outplay their rivals.

It was a match that had the look of potentially being pivotal in terms of which of these sides might finish in the top six with the last full round of matches now underway and both currently in that group but Dundee within a single win’s range of the three teams immediately and just two points behind Saints who had not won any of their previous eight matches.

In a brisk start to proceedings Dundee looked the likelier, Kevin Holt making good inroads on a number of occasions down the left flank, while Kane Hemmings and Greg Stewart both had decent shooting opportunities which they blasted wide.

It was by no means one way traffic, though and Dundee were almost caught out when Darnell Fisher released Daniel Swanson one on one with Konrad and chased up alongside him to receive the return ball on the edge of the box only to take his turn to blast the ball well wide of the target.

When the opener came it was almost inevitably down to Dundee’s former Cowdenbeath strike force that has made such an impression on the Premiership over the past two seasons. Stewart did well to create the initial opening with neat footwork to manoeuvre the ball onto his feared left foot and he struck the shot solidly, but Alan Mannus will feel he should have done better than simply palm the ball back out in front of goal where Hemmings reacted with the sharpness to be expected of someone in a rich vein of form as he tapped in the rebound.

What remains far from the pristine surface Dens was so long famous for was contributing to making it an entertaining match to watch since mistakes were creating plenty of attacking opportunities, but also restricting the number of clear-cut scoring chances for much the same reason as both sides struggled to tame the ball at the crucial moment.

It did not, however, prevent the execution of a couple of lovely pieces of skill six minutes into the second half which saw Dundee double their lead.

As so often Gary Harkins was the instigator, picking Swanson’s pocket just inside the Saints half, then looking up to see Hemmings racing into space to the left of centre and instantly delivering a perfectly weighted ball which the striker ran onto, touched into the box, then lashed unstoppably left footed high to Mannus’s right.

The match should have been over 10 minutes later when Stewart picked up the ball on the edge of the box, feinted to shoot twice as he worked his way left before setting himself perfectly and striking his shot sweetly, only to see it rebound off the under-side of the bar.

There was a moment of controversy at the other end as Darren O’Dea appeared to stamp on Steven Anderson but was shown only a yellow card rather than a red after the officials initially looked to have missed the incident.

There were a couple of worrying moments of a different sort for the home side close to the end when Scott Bain was at full stretch diving low to his left to turn away a shot from Liam Craig, then leaping high to his right to push away a deflected long range effort from Fisher almost immediately afterwards.

Had either gone in it might have made for a nervous last eight minutes but Dundee had fully earned their win and coasted home from that point.

Dundee: S Bain; P McGinn, T Konrad, D O’Dea, K Holt, N Ross G Harkins (capt) J Etxabuguren 86), P McGowan, R Loy (N Low 81), G Stewart, K Hemmings

St Johnstone: A Mannus; D Fisher, S Anderson, J Shaughnessy, T Scobbie, D Wotherspoon (L Craig 59), M Davidson, S Lappin, D Swanson, G Cummins (C Kane 68), S MacLean capt (J Sutton 68).

Referee: C Thomson

Attendance: 4876