Clark Robertson backed by Steven Pressley after scoring at both ends in defeat

Dundee boss Steven Pressley backed Clark Robertson after the centre-back cancelled out his first-half header with an own goal in the Dark Blues’ 2-1 defeat at Falkirk.

Robertson headed home Cameron Congreve’s corner in the first half before diverting Ethan Williams’ volley past his own goalkeeper Jon McCracken to level the scores.

The match looked likely to finish a draw until the game was decided by a moment of magic in the 89th minute as Falkirk centre-back Connor Allan went on a mazy run, jinking by Luke Graham and Robertson, before coolly sliding the ball past McCracken.

Robertson, who also scored in Dundee’s win over Celtic last week, is the club’s top scorer this season with four goals, though he has registered two own goals as well.

Pressley, a centre-back during his career, said: “Clark (Robertson) has been terrific this year and he’s scored again. My belief is when defenders want to defend key situations, they’re always going to score own goals.

“It’s part of their career. I’ve scored many in my time. You’ve got to want to defend those situations and if you put yourself in the situations where you’ve got to defend, you’re going to have moments like that.

“But to be honest Clark’s been exceptional. He’s been a real leader for us and he’s been a real shining light so there’s no blame from us.”

Falkirk manager John McGlynn was delighted to secure his side’s first home victory of the season and hopes his side can build on the success, with Kilmarnock and Livingston both visiting in the next two weeks.

The Bairns have registered away wins against Aberdeen and Motherwell this season, but this was their first home Scottish Premiership victory since a 2-1 win over St Mirren in April 2010.

McGlynn said: “We’ve been very good to go to Aberdeen and win, and go to Motherwell and win, but we had 6,000 fans here today and you want to do it in front of your own fans.

“So they’ll go away absolutely buzzing with what’s happened today, and we’ll need to try and build on that.

“Including Saturday’s game, we have three Saturdays in a row with home games and we need to pick up as many points as we possibly can.

“You’ve got to give the players and the fans the belief that we deserve to be here. We’ve done it on merit, we’ve won the Championship and we’ve come up and shown that we can live with everyone that we’ve played so far.

“With the exception of Hearts, we’ve been good in every game and it gives everyone confidence and belief going forward but it’s still very early and we’re not going to get carried away.”