VALENCIA will probably read of the name Dundee this weekend while cursing their selection of Sky Sports pundit.

The La Liga side of course brought in TV guru Gary Neville last season to mastermind their route to greatness, only for 'Red Nev' to end up back in his studio armchair before you could say patatas bravas. It is perhaps with this in the mind that Neil McCann’s unveiling at crisis-hit Dundee came with more than a whiff of trepidation from those who have watched their team lose seven games on the spin going into this one.

After that slide was halted in Lanarkshire, the temporary switch away from the glitz and glam of an Ikea chair under the studio lights in the Hamilton Morrison’s car park may be extended given what a previously hapless Dundee did here. With their backs against the wall for all of the first half, A Mark O’Hara strike bang on half-time rocked Motherwell to send the Tayside club on their way to a 3-2 victory, their first three points since a 5-1 triumph at the same ground cost Mark McGhee his job back in February.

It was far from an easy ride for McCann. Motherwell roared back with goals from Louis Moult to make it 2-1 after Marcus Haber had doubled their advantage while Chris Cadden brought the hosts to within one again in the wake of Haber's second. But it was not enough to disjoint the smile from the interim Dundee manager’s face as he basked in the knowledge his team have now risen not only from the dead but up to the heady heights of ninth in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

“It was so good to be involved again,” said the 42-year-old. “I am so passionate about football. I love it. Having the opportunity to directly affect something so important to the football club where my career started and finished is great.

Motherwell probably bossed the game in terms of possession, but I am not going to be hard on the players. They were magnificent and I know they can improve.

“I cannot tell you how happy I am for them because they gave everything. Sometimes, when you give everything, you don’t get the rewards, but we got them tonight.

“I have told them to go home and really enjoy it.”

With McCann’s arrival from Sky Sports, Motherwell will be wishing he brought a couple of fancy Ultra HD cameras with him. In truth, a duck billed platypus with a JVC Handycam would have done the job.

It seems not a week goes by without Motherwell being involved in some sort of goal-line controversy, whether it is Scott McDonald against Dundee or Ben Heneghan in a Lanarkshire derby. Yesterday, Stephen Robinson’s men managed to combine the two. The home side were 3-1 down when the big moment came on 76 minutes when a cross from substitute Lionel Ainsworth was powered back across goal by the head of Heneghan and into the net. Or so everyone apart from Steven MacLean and his assistants thought as Tom Hateley hacked it clear. Pictures later revealed the ball looked a good foot into the goal.

Motherwell went on to get their second soon after through Cadden, but understandably that was scant consolation for an irate Robinson.

“It’s a goal. We know it’s a goal,” said the Motherwell manager. “That doesn’t change our errors for their goals but we should have won the game comfortably. If you make those errors you lose games.

“But the fourth official thought it was in. The referees need help. Neil McCann thought it was over the line, Marcus Haber thought it was over the line. Neil was relieved when everybody played on because everybody in the stadium knew it was a goal.

“People lose their jobs over decisions like this. We’ve had two decisions against Dundee like this and people lose their jobs - not just me, staff at this super football club and it just can’t continue to happen.”

The ire of the Northern Irishman is justified when you gander at who has now replaced Dundee in that Premiership play-off place. Robinson has prided himself on Motherwell being hard to beat since he took over from McGhee in February, but his team’s inability to defend properly cost them dearly here.

On 45 minutes a Nick Ross cross towards Haber for an effort on goal was not dealt with by goalkeeper Craig Samson who spilled the ball at the feet of O’Hara to smash in. Four minutes into the second half Dundee struck again, Kevin Holt being allowed the freedom of Fir Park to ghost in on the far side and cutback a ball that Haber eventually hooked in from close range after a frantic sclaff or three.

To their credit Motherwell did rally and it was top goal scorer Moult who unsurprisingly popped up within two minutes of losing that goal to haul his team back into the game. Elliott Frear finally found a good cross in his locker from a corner and a hammer volley from Moult into the roof of the net at the back post took his season tally to 17. Haber and dodgy defending struck again on 56 minutes with O’Hara’s header from a Craig Wighton cross deflecting in off him and into the net.

Motherwell changed things up as McDonald was forced off and they did eventually get the goal their pressure merited, Cadden sliding in Ainsworth’s cross to only heighten the frustration as Dundee managed to hold on.