A season of highs and lows for United

DURING March, Dundee United somewhat upset the apple cart in the Scottish Premiership title race by seeing off Celtic at Tannadice for the second time this season.

United started off well taking the game to their opponents and went in front after the break with wing back Will Ferry nabbing his first ever goal for the club. Things were to get better for United when man of the match Emmanuel Agyei, drilled the ball home through a ruck of players to also break his scoring duck.

This season, though, United have thrown away a few 2-0 leads in vital games and it was therefore no surprise that a nervy ending ensued. However whatever Jim Goodwin said to his defence worked as they grafted tirelessly to keep Celtic out instead of sitting off which unfortunately has been a major issue in defence. The stats showed that even though Celtic dominated in possession, United produced 18 shots on target, which was the most the Hoops have faced from anyone so far this season.

While the state of the playing surface took centre stage prior to kick-off, United regardless plodded on and deserved the win, which was only their second home double over the Hoops in 35 years.

This victory saw United pick up seven points from nine in March and went a long way towards Goodwin receiving the Manager of the Month award for his efforts.

After the international break, United would then travel to Ibrox and despite playing some decent stuff from the off found themselves 2-0 down against the run of play. A mistake from United’s keeper allowed the Ibrox to take the lead before they added a second five minutes before the break.

United, though, clawed one back with a super effort from Amar Fatah who cut inside from the right leaving Rangers’ John Souttar flat-footed, before slotting home and putting a more realistic slant on the half-time scoreline.

United fell behind again after some poor defending and the Gers looked like they were cruising to victory until Fatah again ran at the defence turning provider for Luca Stephenson who played in Aussie striker Zac Sapsford for his first goal for months. United then hit the woodwork shortly after with a lobbed header from Moldovan centre-half Iurie Iovu as Ibrox fell silent for a few minutes.

Rangers then went up the park and made it 4-2 with a deflected effort from Bojan Miovski giving them the three points and their turn at the top of the table for the first time in two years for at least 24 hours.

United saw out the remainder of their pre-split games against Livingston coming out on top 3-2, with Irish cap Ferry again opening the scoring.

A lapse in concentration in defence, however, almost cost them dear as they fell 2-1 behind, before their fortune changed with a fine headed equaliser from the Hungarian Krisztián Keresztes.

There was then some injury-time drama as Aussie striker Sapsford hold his nerve to dispatch a penalty into the net in what was literally the last kick of the game to win it—more or less condemning the luckless West Lothian side to relegation.

Dundee United will go into the post-split fixtures as the best of the rest in in seventh place in the league. This season hasn’t brought much joy to the Arab faithful who, despite coming out in good numbers both home and away, have pretty much had to endure some mediocre fayre since last August.

Recruitment has been an issue, especially between the sticks with numerous avoidable errors proving costly and the defence still looks shaky—playing with three centre halves has been a huge bug bear of many supporters.

Nonetheless there have been some highlights with exciting young talent on show with Fatah and Stephenson perhaps being the best examples. With injuries to both though, they will be missed in the coming weeks and it remains to be seen if we will see either in a Tangerine shirt again as they are both expected to return to their parent clubs or move on elsewhere to bigger and better things if reports are to be believed.

Up next for United is the final Dundee derby of the season, which has been a mixed bag so far, with a win for both sides away from home and a draw in the last outing just a few weeks ago. It would be a great boost to give Arabs an end of season bonus and beat the Dark blues on home soil having not managed it in the last four outings.