Dundee recorded their first Dens Park win over Aberdeen in seven years to book themselves a place in the draw for the fifth round of the Scottish Cup.

A superb first-half display from Dundee's trio of strikers blew away the Dons and despite missing a host of chances throughout the 90 minutes, the Dark Blues never looked in danger of recording anything but a win.

Top scorer Steve Lovell scored his 10th goal of the season after 22 minutes after taking advantage of some hesitant Dons defending.

Spanish winger Nacho Novo capped a fine performance by adding the second with four minutes of the first half remaining to compound yet another miserable afternoon for the Dons.

Dundee should have opened the scoring after only 10 minutes but Novo wasted a great opportunity to give his side the perfect start.

The Spaniard latched onto a long ball played out from the Dundee defence and raced clear of Russell Anderson.

However, despite going one-on-one with David Preece, Novo never looked confident of scoring and fired the ball straight at the goalkeeper.

Dundee gradually began to get up with the pace of the game after conceding a lot of possession to their visitors in the opening minutes.

The Dark Blues had another chance in the 15th minute when Preece hesitated when coming to claim a Georgi Nemsadze corner.

Preece raced off his line into a ruck of players and could only palm the ball towards Zurab Khizanishvili, who was standing on the edge of the area.

The Georgian defender had time to pick his spot, but opted to go for power instead and sent his effort wide of the left-hand post.

Dundee took the lead six minutes later through top scorer Lovell.

The former Portsmouth man has an impressive goals tally so far this season and showed excellent finishing ability when he raced in, taking advantage of sloppy Dons defending, to knock the ball over the top of Preece.

It was no more than Dundee deserved at this stage, having recovered well from an early period of Aberdeen possession to gain control in midfield and exert their influence on the game.

The Dons thought they had equalised in the 33rd minute when Eric Deloumeaux's 25-yard free kick took a wicked deflection off the wall and seemed to have caught Julian Speroni wrong footed.

However, the Argentine showed wonderful reflexes and managed to change direction in a split-second and palm the ball to safety.

Dundee had a strong claim for a foul in the 38th minute when Lovell used his blistering pace to beat Deloumeaux to a ball the Frenchman was a heavy favourite to win.

As Lovell sprinted clear, the defender appeared to use his arms to impede him, but referee Dougie McDonald waved play on.

The second was not long in coming, however, and Novo made amends for his earlier miss by grabbing his second one-on-one chance.

He was played in, once again, by a long ball over the top and designed to make best use of his pace.

After racing clear of Phil McGuire he drew Preece to his near post before blasting it across him into the far corner of the net.

Novo thought he had scored his second of the match in the 67th minute in what would have been a carbon copy of his first.

He found space on the right side of the penalty area and drew Preece forward once again before firing a low drive across him.

Unfortunately for the former Raith Rovers player, the Dons goalkeeper managed to dive low and get a hand to the ball, turning it round the post.

Dundee should have had the game wrapped up with 17 minutes remaining when Lovell played Caballero through on goal, but his casual attitude prevented him from scoring.

The South American broke through one-on-one with Preece before effortlessly dancing round the goalkeeper and, believing he was set to score, lazily knocked the ball past the post.

Caballero's miss did not matter much, as Dundee held on to record their first home win over the Dons since dumping them out of the League Cup in 1996.

Teams

Dundee Speroni, Mackay, Wilkie, Khizanishvili, Mair, Smith, Rae, Nemsadze, Lovell (Burchill 84), Caballero (Milne 78), Novo.

Subs Not Used: Langfield, Hernandez Santos, Brady.

Booked: Smith.

Goals: Lovell 22, Novo 41.

Aberdeen Preece, Anderson, McGuire, Deloumeaux (McAllister 45), Hart, Clark (Payne 72), Tosh, Sheerin, O'Donoghue (Fabiano 63), D'Jaffo, Derek Young.

Subs Not Used: Kjaer, Mackie.

Booked: Deloumeaux.

Att: 7,549

Ref: D McDonald (Scotland).