GOING into the second international break this season, Dundee United are currently sitting in fifth place in the Scottish Premiership with three wins and three draws to their name and their only league defeat so far coming against Rangers at Tannadice.
United recorded another clean sheet on the road in their latest venture at St Mirren where they came away 1-0 winners after young defender Emmanuel (Manny) Adegboyega, was first to react to a parried shot and head home the winner on 75 minutes.
It was a double celebration for the increasingly popular Ireland under-21 cap, netting his first goal in a Tangerine shirt and earning a place in the SPFL team of the week.
On the game itself, Goodwin made reference to the somewhat bore fest on offer and how undoubtedly it would be the last game to be shown on the TV highlights programme as they would struggle to find many. However, three points is exactly that and therefore it was objective achieved regardless of entertainment value—or the lack of it.
United exited the League Cup at the hands of Motherwell and the sides will meet again in the league later this month with United hoping for a better outcome than that at Fir Park.
Trailing 1-0 at the interval and looking devoid of any ideas, Louis Moult struck United’s best goal of the season so far to get his side back on level terms. It looked like we were headed for extra-time until an untimely tackle from United’s Luca Stephenson—on loan from Liverpool—gave Well a spot-kick which was coolly dispatched by young starlet Lennon Miller with virtually the last kick of the game. It was a tough one to take for the 2000 plus travelling Arabs who made the journey to Lanarkshire on a Friday evening.
Stephenson, though, would make amends a week later when he showed a positive reaction at Kilmarnock (above) as he drew a foul deep into added time to rescue a point on the road when it looked like United were dead and buried at 3-1.
Craig Sibbald had given United a fighting chance with a strike that the home keeper should have done better with to pull it back to 3-2, but with time running out, that final play from Stephenson gave centre-half Ross Graham the opportunity to blast home his first ever penalty for the Tangerines and leave Killie shaking their heads and still searching for their first league win—although they would fix that at Dundee FC the following week.
Jim Goodwin made four changes on 75 minutes with a ‘kitchen sink’ approach that paid off eventually. Critics of course would argue these changes should or could have been made earlier in the match, but nonetheless it proved to be a great comeback from United at a place and a surface they have struggled with in the past and it was a well-earned point that many an Arab would have taken at 3pm in Ayrshire.
At this stage of the game, one might argue United have exceeded the expectations of the media, many of which had them as firm favourites for the drop before a ball was kicked in August. They seem like a side though who are capable of holding their own at this level. Captain Ross Docherty, at 31, does not look out of place in the heart of midfield in the top flight where he is playing for the first time in his long career.
Manager Jim Goodwin is still a Marmite man amongst Arabs and his style of play is not always pleasing on the eye, which the Waterford man has alluded to. But, as he is keen to point out, we’re in a results driven business and the changes to personnel and formation he has made at key times have yielded points. So on that basis; few can argue his report card makes decent reading so far. Goodwin has assembled a decent side that work hard for each other with grit and determination at the forefront and there’s the odd bit of guile thrown in for the ‘sexy football’ enthusiasts out there too—but blink and you might miss it.
Injuries to key players such as Kristijan Trapanovski and Moult could see that decent form change very quickly though and United may have to dig deep into the squad as they will face stern tests in the coming weeks with clashes with the top two—Celtic and Aberdeen on the horizon.
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