It has become common-place in football to suggest that struggling teams can be disadvantaged by playing in front of their own supporters but after scoring the crucial goal in Saturday's drought-ending win Gary Irvine, Dundee's full-back, reckoned their biggest problem is that opponents like visiting them too much.

This was only their second win at Dens Park in the Premiership this season and their first home or away in the league for more than two months and Irvine, who capitalised on a dreadful blunder by former Dundee clubmate Dan Twardzik, the Motherwell goal-keeper, to knock in his side's third, admitted it had been badly needed, saying: "We have been looking for a result like this for a good few weeks now so it's a relief."

All the moreso because in their first season back in the top flight Dundee's priority has to be survival and this was a third successive home match with one of the three clubs they would like to completely detach themselves from in the bottom half of the table.

Defeat by St Mirren, then bottom, had been followed by Ross County, who had gone into last place because of that result, coming back from a goal behind to snatch a draw in spite of spending some 82 minutes reduced to 10 men.

Since those performances had sandwiched a record derby defeat just down Tannadice Street on New Year's Day another bad result against third bottom Motherwell would, then, have been close to disastrous and the mood in the grandstands was consequently still subdued after the home time leapt into an early two goal lead, that wariness apparently justified when the visitors were allowed back into the game before the midway point in the first half.

Dundee's third goal was vital, then, in terms of settling nerves, all the moreso when it was followed soon after by Henrik Ojamaa's dismissal for striking Kevin Thomson with a flailing arm, but Irvine said the supporters, who can be tough to please in these parts, had been entitled to be discontented.

"The fans have been entitled to give us stick, especially after the derby result. The embarrassment was there with that scoreline," he acknowledged.

"The players were frustrated so that same frustration would also be there with the supporters and they are entitled to voice that."

Yet he also noted that Dundee's biggest task would appear to be to reassert true home advantage by preventing opponents from enjoying their visits as much as they seem to.

"I have been here for five seasons now and no matter what league it's been in, teams always love coming to Dens Park for some reason and make things so hard," Irvine observed.

"That's certainly been the case this season and maybe a combination of a wee bit hard luck and ourselves not doing the right things has been the cause of it."

Paul Hartley, their manager, had said before this match that they were not playing too badly and simply needed a win of any sort to get things back on track and, albeit both he and his players could rightly point to the fact that you make your own luck, they got every break going on Saturday.

Hartley perhaps deserves particular credit for his shrewdness in recruiting, on loan, the livewire Alex Harris, who added hugely to their creativity in the first half in particular and produced their opening goal, albeit a huge deflection off Stephen McManus, was what ensured Twardzik was beaten.

After making a fine save from Greg Stewart only for the ball to rebound off the bar directly to the Dundee striker to let him score the second, the Motherwell goalie then presented Irvine with his goal, before Twardzik and Marc O'Brien combined to gift Dundee their fourth.

It was a result which pulled Dundee eight points clear of Motherwell and there remains a further six point gap to the bottom two, but after letting in 11 goals in three matches this year there is growing concern among those who finished runners-up to Celtic last season.

"This is something we've maybe not had to deal with for a while at this club. It's the poorest period we've had for a long time and we need to get out of it," said Keith Lasley, their veteran midfielder.

"There's no doubt about it, we're in a poor position. It's up to everybody to drag themselves and the guy next to them out of it.

"I wouldn't say we're in shock. We know the situation we're in. It's something we've not been used to, that's all, but that's football, we have no divine right to be anywhere and that was the same when we were doing well.

"It's about hard work and determination, all the same ingredients that make a good football team. We aren't showing enough of that."

One Minute pundit:

3' Alex Harris cuts in from the right and fires a left footed shot which deflects off Stephen McManus leaving Dan Twardzik wrong-footed 1-0

7' David Clarkson's deft flick on puts Greg Stewart in and Twardzik deflects his initial shot onto the bar but the striker heads home the rebound 2-0

17' John Sutton gets across Iain Davidson at the near post to meet Josh Law's cross and clip the ball past Scott Bain 2-1

34' Dan Twardzik comes to collect a corner from the right two handed but drops it into the path of Gary Irvine 3-1

44' Henrik Ojamaa throws out an arm in a challenge with Kevin Thomson flooring the Dundee midfielder and earning himself a red card

Half-time: Dundee 3 Motherwell 1

70' Marc O'Brien tries to usher the ball back to Twardzik but, under minimal pressure from Luca Tankulic,flicks the ball with his foot as he tries to spin out of the way and watches the ball trickle agonisingly past his goal-keeper and over the line 4-1