Ryan Astley strikes late as Dundee edge victory over Aberdeen

Dundee scored a dramatic late winner against Aberdeen in an end-of-season five-goal thriller at Dens Park.

The hosts opened the scoring through Drey Wright but were pegged back when Liam Morrison headed home his first goal for the visitors.

Toyosi Olusanya then gave Aberdeen the lead but Dundee drew level after the break thanks to Joe Westley before Ryan Astley netted the third in the 90th minute.

The win means Dundee have leapfrogged the Dons to finish the season in eighth place in the Premiership table.

Aberdeen handed a debut to keeper Nicholas Suman with Topi Keskinen, Kjartan Kjartansson and Lyall Cameron brought back into the starting line-up following the midweek defeat to St Mirren.

The home side rang the changes after being beaten by Kilmarnock on Tuesday night with Ethan Hamilton, Cam Congreve, Charlie Reilly, Westley and Wright all recalled.

After a quiet opening to the game, the hosts stormed into the lead in the 10th minute. Congreve cut in from the right to deliver a superb cross to the back post and although Suman saved Reilly’s initial header, Wright was quick to react to fire home from close range.

Aberdeen defender Mats Knoester was injured as he tried to prevent the goal and had to be stretchered off to be replaced by Nicky Devlin.

Dundee continued to press with the ball being worked to Fin Robertson just inside the Dons box with the midfielder hitting a low shot that was saved by Suman diving to his left.

Instead, it was Aberdeen who scored next. Former Dundee favourite Cameron sent a corner in from the right with the unmarked Morrison powering a header past Kieran O’Hara in the home goal.

Dundee passed up a gilt-edged chance to take the lead once more when Robertson teed up Congreve but with the goal at his mercy, the on-loan Swansea City winger blasted over the bar.

The home side were left to rue that missed opportunity when the Dons scored again in the sixth minute of stoppage time after a Cameron shot from the edge of the Dundee box was deflected into the path of Olusanya, who fired home from close range to give his side the lead at half-time.

There was a quiet opening to the second 45 with both sides struggling to carve out any goal-scoring opportunities.

That finally changed in the 61st minute when Congreve played Reilly through on goal and although his shot was saved by Suman, Westley pounced on the rebound to produce a fine finish into the back of the empty net.

As the game edged to a conclusion, it looked like both sides would have to settle for a draw but Dundee netted the winner in the 90th minute when Robertson swung a corner in from the right for Astley to bullet home a header and seal the victory.