Partick Thistle travelled to the City of Discovery last night for a crunch meeting with the only side below them in the Premiership table, and their manager Alan Archibald found that his men were the ones with the stomach for the fight as they easily swept the hosts aside.

Ade Azeez headed home his long-awaited first league goal before Kris Doolan also got off the mark for the season to give Thistle their first win since triumphing over Inverness on the opening day of the league campaign, while the home side limped on to their sixth defeat in-a-row.

The victory pulls Thistle up to ninth in the table, giving them a four-point cushion on rock-bottom Dundee, who displayed plenty of evidence on the night to suggest why they find themselves in such a perilous position.

“Same old story,” said a resigned-looking Paul Hartley after the match. “Not a good enough performance. Ok, we had a better spell in the first half – but the goals we’ve conceded, it’s not good enough.

“The first goal is a free header. For the second, we had three chances to clear our lines. So a free header and an open goal. Not good enough.

“It’s a problem all over the whole team. When they lose that first goal, we look a bit fragile. That has to change.

“We are in trouble. It’s not good enough, the points tally isn’t enough – and we are in a battle.”

Hartley had decided to swing the axe for this one, making four changes to the side who lost at St Johnstone on Sunday. Out went Nick Ross, James Vincent, Faissal El Bakhtaoui and Yordi Teijsse, with Cammy Kerr coming in as well as Craig Wighton, Rory Loy and new signing Marcus Haber to form an adventurous front three.

Visiting manager Alan Archibald stuck with the same line-up and formation that earned a draw against Ross County at the weekend, continuing with a back three and five men across the middle with Ade Azeez partnering Kris Doolan in attack.

The visitors were on top from the off, and they came close to opening the scoring when Danny Devine headed Sean Welsh’s corner towards the back post where Liam Lindsay could only head onto the bar from a couple of yards out.

Cammy Kerr flashed a long-range shot wide by way of reply for the hosts, and Haber should have made more of an opportunity inside the Thistle area after Wighton threaded a clever pass to his feet, but his attempted low cross for Loy was easily cleared.

Azeez then almost got free as he latched onto a ball over the top, but after turning Kevin Holt he was denied by an excellent sliding intervention from Darren O’Dea.

It was Thistle who looked the more dangerous though, particularly in the air, and it was via this route that they broke the deadlock just before the half hour.

Abdul Osman took a touch on the right before measuring a cross onto the head of Azeez, whose looping header back across goal cleared Scott Bain and dropped into the net.

It took a while for Dundee to mount a response, but they should have equalised just before half-time when Kerr whipped in a great cross to the back post and O’Dea rose above Ryan Scully, but his header skewed inches wide.

It was a low key start to the second half considering what was at stake, but Thistle should have had the game dead and buried as Doolan’s clever touch bought him some space before he slid a through ball to Azeez to put him in the clear. The striker’s attempted finish was too close to Bain though, who managed to block with his feet.

He made amends moments later though as he robbed Holt on the right and turned provider for Doolan on this occasion, cutting the ball back for his strike partner to turn home and give Thistle some breathing space.

Not that they particularly needed it. The second goal had the same effect on Dundee as that one drink too many that turns a slightly staggering drunk into a rambling, incoherent mess. And it may take quite a while for the hangover from this limp and lifeless display to lift.

“You’ve got to worry about where the next win is coming from,” said Hartley. “When you’ve gone so long without a win, of course you worry. We have got to find one – and we’ve got to find it quick.”

O’Dea did have a header from close-range that Scully did well to block late on, before the keeper had to be replaced after picking up a nasty-looking shoulder injury after a collision with Osman, who also made way.

That was the only black spot for Thistle though on a night they discovered that long-awaited winning feeling yet again.

“We’ve waited a long time since the start of the season to get that perfect performance at both ends, and I thought we got that tonight,” said their delighted manager, Alan Archibald.

“We played well on Saturday but we didn’t win the game, but we drove the positives home from that game and tried to take it into tonight, and I thought we did that.”

DUNDEE: Bain; Gomis (Gadzahlov, 34’), O’Dea, Holt; Hateley, McGowan, Williams (Tiejsse, 73’), Kerr; Haber, Loy (Duffy, 60’), Wighton.

PARTICK THISTLE: Scully (Stuckmann, 87’); Devine, Lindsay, Booth; Booth, Welsh, Osman )Wilson, 87’), Edwards, Elliot; Azeez, Doolan.

Scorers: Azeez (29’), Doolan (62’)

Booked: Elliott (90’)

Man of the match: Adam Barton (Partick Thistle)

Referee: Steven McLean

Attendance: 4783