DUNDEE United’s run of five games undefeated came to a halt recently when Motherwell again inflicted defeat on Jim Goodwin’s side for the third time this season.
While a seven-goal thriller may have been a cracking game for the neutral fan, it was a disappointing outcome for Arabs with their team unfortunately guilty of uncharacteristic defending to give the home side a good head start.
Scottish Premiership Player of the Month, United striker Sam Dalby, was on the scoresheet twice to lift him to the top of the scoring charts and with Louis Moult also finding the net again hopefully this bodes well for the rest of the season. It was, however at the other end of the pitch United suffered badly on the day in a 4-3 reverse (above).
Missing in action due to suspension, was wing-back Will Ferry who has been outstanding to date. He will also miss vital upcoming fixtures at Tannadice with both Celtic and Aberdeen due to visit in late December. Ferry is a big loss to the starting 11 and has required a reshuffle of the pack with no natural replacement available.
United had gone into this game at Motherwell after a run of form shrouded in controversy. Firstly a credible draw at Ibrox after kick-off was delayed for almost an hour and Goodwin’s side irritating the home side by stalling the start of proceedings to finish their warm-up. While the referee and the home team were keen to get going, United players and staff had been stuck on a coach from Dundee to Glasgow for four and a half hours, which was hardly ideal preparation.
Despite the circumstances, the Tangerines dug in though and—despite some late pressure—held on for a share of the points. Dalby was again the man of the moment for United, heading home in the first-half with a bread and butter finish after taking full advantage of some poor marking from the Ibrox men.
Cerny got Rangers back into it with a strike in the second period, but they were unable to break down a resolute defence and found United keeper Jack Walton in fine form making a string of excellent stops.
A week later United saw off St Mirren after some questionable VAR decisions went in their favour. Firstly, keeper Walton should have walked for a tackle outside the box, before United were awarded two penalties late in the second half. The first saw centre half Kevin Holt put the Tangerines 1-0 ahead, while his second was saved by the Buddies’ keeper. From the resulting corner though, Manny Adeboyega pounced on a goalkeeping error to put the game to bed and make it 2-0. It was the second time the young centre half has seen off the Paisley Saints this season.
Then United—despite being ahead with a late goal against Kilmarnock from that man Dalby again—would be on the other end of a VAR decision which enabled the visitors to equalise from the penalty spot in the 95th minute. With two draws in both games this season between the sides, the outcome here was probably fair and expected. United though would obviously be frustrated to concede so late in the game.
A busy Christmas period lies ahead then with two home games versus the top two as well as local visits to St Johnstone and across the road at Dens Park to kick off 2025.
Even at this stage with United in the top six, some Arabs are still not fully on board with Goodwin and his style of grinding out results. Let’s try using some perspective here, this time last year his side had just lost to Raith Rovers at Tannadice and were second in the Scottish Championship, having slipped further behind the Fifers—who looked good for promotion—and the New Year ‘derby’ was at Gayfield against Arbroath who are now in League 1. We’ll just leave it there!
Comments