Peterhead’s pre-season ended in a 4-0 defeat at Balmoor Stadium against Championship new-boys Dundee.
There were decent chances for both sides in the first half, but it was Zak Rudden’s 36th-minute goal which gave The Dee the lead at half-time.
In his first game in charge, Dundee boss Gary Bowyer made 11 changes at the break, with former Aberdeen winger Niall McGinn coming on and putting Dundee 2-0 up five minutes after the restart.
Luke McCowan got Dundee’s third goal in the 71st minute, while ex-Blue Toon loanee Josh Mulligan netted their fourth and final effort less than five minutes later.
Saturday’s game against Dundee was the final pre-season clash for the Blue Toon, who played Inverurie Locos and Elgin City last weekend.
Their season kicks off with a Premier Sports Cup clash against Aberdeen next weekend.
Early chances for both sides but Rudden’s goal the difference
Both sides had early chances, with Dundee’s Paul McMullan registering the first shot of the game, which was easily gathered by Peterhead’s trialist goalkeeper, before another Blue Toon trialist had a shot deflected over the bar at the other end.
Ryan Dow, who has just signed up for another spell with Peterhead, then got a cheeky shot away in among a crowd of Dundee defenders, but his attempted chip was well held by a backpedaling Harrison Sharp.
The best chance in the first part of the game came in the 30th minute when Dundee’s Luke Strachan fired a shot from inside the box which looked certain to be going in the back of the net, but the Peterhead goalkeeper did well to push it on the bar to keep the score at 0-0.
Dundee took the lead five minutes later as they hit the Blue Toon on the counterattack. Finlay Robertson switched the ball to Rudden down the right hand side, and he chipped the ball over the Peterhead goalkeeper for 1-0.
Jim McInally’s side replied almost immediately as Jack Brown found himself in a decent amount of space, but his shot rolled wide of the far post, much to the relief of a beaten Sharp.
An early goal for a much-changed Dundee side
Dundee boss Bowyer put out an entirely changed side for the second half and it didn’t take long for them to add to Rudden’s first half goal.
Alex Jukubiak, who spent most of last season on loan at Partick Thistle, latched on to a Peterhead defensive error, before finding McGinn with a perfectly timed pass, and he slotted the ball into an empty net.
After going 2-0 down, McInally made a handful changes himself as Andrew McDonald, Hamish Ritchie and a trialist made way for for Jordon Brown, another trialist and Danny Strachan.
Dundee got their third goal as McCowan hit a pacey shot towards goal, from just inside the box, which found the bottom left corner, leaving the Blue Toon keeper with no chance.
Less than five minutes later, Mulligan got on the scoresheet when he got the better of Peterhead’s backline, before rounding the keeper to pass the ball into an empty net for 4-0.
