Dundee have made light work of bitter rivals Dundee United, easing to a 3-1 win in this evening's Scottish Premiership clash at Dens Park.

The hosts took the lead on the quarter-hour mark when Greg Stewart's shot squirmed through Radoslaw Cierzniak's arms and into the net.

United then had the chance to level the scores just two minutes later as Kevin Thomson's handball in the box against Chris Erskine prompted the referee to give the visitors a penalty.

Nadir Ciftci stepped up and duly slotted the ball past goalkeeper Scott Bain to get United back into the game.

The action continued to come thick and fast as Cierzniak made amends for his earlier error by palming away Stewart's free kick.

Dundee, however, eked themselves back into the lead in the 23rd minute thanks to James McPake, who nodded home Stewart's corner.

The Terrors came within a whisker of equalising moments later when Calum Butcher's header was cleared off the line by Thomson, but were unable to level proceedings come the break.

There was less in the way of action after the restart as the hosts appeared content to sit on their lead, although they had to be careful when Ciftci forced a save from Bain in the 64th minute.

Dundee did, however, manage to put the game beyond the reach of their bitter rivals in the 68th minute when Stewart laid the ball across the face of goal for Paul Heffernan to slot home.

By then it was a case of damage limitation for United, who had Cierzniak to thank for palming away Paul McGinn's goalbound header in the latter stages of the game.

It was ultimately a night to forget for the visitors as Dundee ended up claiming victory in the derby for the first time in over a decade.