A spectacular overhead kick by Juan Sara secured a point for Dundee in the 1-1 draw against Motherwell at Dens Park.

The Dark Blues forward struck 10 minutes after Well forward Dirk Lehmann took advantage of some slack defending to grab the opener for the visitors.

The Tayside team had failed to clear their lines properly before a Steven Ferguson shot left the former Hibernian man with the chance to slot home.

But Sara struck with his superb finish in the 35th minute - only his second goal since September.

Dundee looked assured on the ball and spent much of the opening 10 minutes spreading the ball around, probing at the Motherwell defence.

This tactic almost worked in the 14th minute when a nice interchange of passes between Jonay Hernandez and Steven Robb opened up space on the left.

Robb's eventual cross into the area was good but Fabian Caballero was unable to reach it and Francois Dubourdeau caught easily.

Motherwell's first chance of the game came on the 20-minute mark when James McFadden gathered a pass from Scott Leitch, turned inside Robb and shot from 16 yards.

Unfortunately for Motherwell, his effort lacked direction and Julian Speroni was able to palm the ball away.

But the visitors took the lead in the 25th minute when Lehmann capitalised on some poor defending from Dundee.

McFadden picked up the ball 18 yards from goal and fired in a shot.

His effort was blocked and fell for Ferguson, who blasted the ball towards goal, beating Speroni.

Losing the opening goal spurred Dundee into life and they got themselves back into the game in spectacular style 10 minutes later.

Sara gathered a Dave Mackay cross 16 yards out and, with his back to goal, knocked the ball into the air and blasted an overhead kick past Dubourdeau.

The Well keeper dived low to his right but was unable to get a hand to the ball and it squirmed past him and into the net.

Dundee had an opportunity to take the lead after 60 minutes but some solid defending from Well, combined with a poor header from Caballero ensured the scores stayed level.

Young defender Mackay broke into the penalty box and attempted a shot on goal but was quickly closed down by three defenders.

His effort broke wide and fell for Nacho Novo, who delivered a telling cross into the area for Caballero.

The forward was standing unmarked six yards out but was unable to get his header on target.

Dubourdeau was called into action with five minutes remaining when a seemingly innocuous Sara header almost dipped into the net.

The forward's effort looked to be sailing well over but suddenly dipped and forced the Well goalkeeper into a diving save.

Neither side could make the breakthrough in the final few minutes as Butcher's young side ground out a deserved point.

Teams

Dundee: Speroni, MacKay, Mair, Wilkie, Hernandez Santos, Robb (Rae 58), Smith, Brady (Milne 77), Novo, Sara, Caballero.

Subs Not Used: Langfield, Robertson, Khizanishvili.

Booked: Wilkie.

Goals: Sara 35.

Motherwell: Dubourdeau, Quinn, Corrigan, Kinniburgh, Ferguson (Clarkson 75), Adams, Leitch, Fagan, Hammell, Lehmann, McFadden.

Subs Not Used: Woods, Ramsey, Sengewald, McDonald.

Booked: Fagan, Hammell.

Goals: Lehmann 25.

Att: 5,527

Ref: M McCurry (Scotland).