Despairing Dundee were left red-faced by superb Ross County as they were embarrassed on their own patch by the Premiership’s bottom team.
The Staggies arrived at Dens Park looking for their first league win of the campaign and took apart a woefully under-par Dark Blues, romping into a 4-0 half-time lead.
The opening half was spectacularly bad from the hosts and got worse in the second 45 as Regan Charles-Cook notched his second of the game to finish the scoring at 5-0.
The result sees County move to within a point of Dundee at the bottom of the table.
First-half hammering
Ahead of kick-off there was a minute’s silence for the passing of Scottish football great Walter Smith, impeccably observed by all at Dens Park.
The opening 10 minutes were pretty low-key with very little goalmouth action at either end.
That would change soon, however.
First Charlie Adam brought a sprawling save from County goalie Maynard-Brewer.
After that, it was one-way traffic in the opposite direction.
On 18 minutes the home crowd were left dumbstruck by the opening goal for the visitors.
A long ball was left by Joseph Hungbo, who looked in an offside position, and caught out left-back Jordan Marshall.
That hesitation allowed Harry Clarke in behind and the full-back made no mistake with the outside of his foot.
It was 2-0 before the half-hour mark with a moment Dens goalkeeper Adam Legzdins will look back on fondly.
The keeper has been Mr Reliable this term for Dundee but had a moment to forget as his clearance careered off Jordan White.
The ball fell perfectly for former Dee Ross Callachan to stroke into the net.
Dundee couldn’t get any possession of the ball, were unable to hurt the Staggies or get Griffiths involved at all as the visitors swarmed around them.
On 33 minutes, skipper Adam gave away a needless free-kick over 30 yards out and was punished with goal No 3.
What a strike it was, too. Hungbo unleashed an unstoppable effort that struck the underside of the crossbar on its way in.
In response, Dundee boss James McPake made an early sub after just 37 minutes. It only served to anger the home crowd, however.
Paul McMullan was the man brought off for Danny Mullen.
It didn’t stop the flow of goals, however, as County made it 4-0 before the break.
Marshall gave the ball away on the left and the visitors were bearing down on goal once more.
Callachan hit it, bringing a good save from Legzdins, but the ball wasn’t dead and it was cut back for Regan Charles-Cook to knock into the net from close range.
For bedraggled Dundee side, half-time came as a welcome break to the hammering being dished out by Ross County.
County coast to victory
As the match wore on towards the hour mark, McPake made his final two changes of the match, incurring the wrath of the home support once more as Cummings headed off.
He was replaced by Luke McCowan as Cillian Sheridan also replaced the ineffectual Paul McGowan.
The changes, though, didn’t stop goals at the wrong end as County added a fifth on 70 minutes.
Scorer of the first, Harry Clarke, burst away down the right before cutting the ball across for Charles-Cook to find the bottom corner.
Late on Griffiths stung the palms of Maynard-Brewer for the striker’s first real involvement in the game.
But there was no coming back for a well-beaten Dundee side.
The final whistle was greeted by a chorus of boos from what remained of the home support.
Teams
Dundee: Legzdins, Marshall, Ashcroft, Sweeney, Kerr, McGhee, McGowan (Sheridan 57), Adam, McMullan (Mullen 37), Cummings (McCowan 57), Griffiths.
Subs not used: Lawlor, Fontaine, Elliott, Panter.
Ross County: Maynard-Brewer, Randall (B Paton 76), Baldwin, H Paton, Callachan, Iacovitti, Charles-Cook (Burroughs 76), Clarke, Tillson, Hungbo (Spittal 65), White.
Subs not used: Laidlaw, Samuel, Robertson, Watson.
Referee: David Dickinson
Attendance: 4,883
