New Dundee manager Neil McCann hailed his players after their win at Motherwell and said the victory had stopped the team's downward spiral.

McCann was in the dugout for the first time since replacing Paul Hartley and he was tasked with rescuing Dundee from the prospect of relegation following seven straight defeats that saw them drop into the play-off spot.

A double from Mark O'Hara and a Marcus Haber goal earned McCann's side three points and lifted them out of the drop zone and the manager was delighted for his players.

McCann said: "I'm so proud of them. I know at times we came under pressure, but I was comfortable, I trusted them.

"We were just a wee bit deep, but that's natural, we had lost seven games in a row. But I can't tell you how happy I am for them, because they gave everything.

"The most important thing for me was to stop the bleeding, to stop the defeats, and with that you sacrifice a wee bit of what you have got going forward. But we worked on a game plan that we would almost become a wee bit of a counter-attacking team. Just today, get the first game under our belts.

"And we had players in the right positions who could affect it."