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A blistering first-half hat-trick from Kane Hemmings propelled Dundee past Hamilton Academical and return to the Scottish Premiership's top six.

Greg Stewart too struck a sublime curling shot after Hemmings' opener.

Hamilton's Jamie Sendles-White was substituted after the fourth goal - he was not alone in being off the pace in a calamitous first half.

Accies were better in the second period but Dundee were in control to secure their first win since early October.

Dundee shook off the first half lethargy that has plagued them in recent games to start in a whirlwind fashion and this coupled with uncertain Hamilton defending allowed them to race into a four goal lead inside 25 minutes.

Boss Paul Hartley had concentrated his team's preparation on starting the match quickly with the aim to dictate the tempo and rarely can a manager have seen his aspirations exceeded so rapidly in a game.

Hemmings opened the scoring when he pounced on an error by Sendles-White, who would have instantly regretted his decision not to clear the ball with greater force.

Hemmings showed a lively turn of pace to seize possession and rounded goalkeeper Michael McGovern to score.

Dundee were ready to exploit any Hamilton errors with both Stewart and Gary Harkins coming close before the second goal arrived. The hold-up play and pass was textbook from Harkins and Stewart steadied himself before bending an 18-yard shot around the diving shape of McGovern.

The third goal rapidly followed. Sendles-White dallied in dealing with a through-ball that also saw McGovern race to the edge of his box. While the two tangled Hemmings extracted the ball and gleefully deposited it into the unguarded net.

McGovern had to backpedal to make a last-gasp stop, tipping over Hemmings' 20-yard lob that almost brought the striker his hat-trick.

But the save delayed Hemmings securing the match ball as a souvenir by just three minutes when he moved sharply away from two defenders to place an angled shot beyond McGovern.

Hamilton had scored just one goal on their last four visits to Dens Park and they failed to test Scott Bain in the Dundee goal in the first half. Predictably Hamilton saw greater possession in the second half as Dundee, knowing the job was done, were happy to contain their visitors.

In addition to recording a long-awaited win, Dundee kept their first clean sheet since mid-September but it was the tempo of the first-half play and their finishing that pleased the home fans the most.