United hoping to improve league position

DUNDEE United’s recent run of games began at Ibrox, with the home side desperate to kick-start their season with a win.

Rangers totally dominated the first-half going in 1-0 to the good at the break, before a fabulous second-half performance from Jim Goodwin’s side saw United take a 2-1 lead to a chorus of ‘boos’ from the home fans.

The equaliser came when United introduced their North Macedonian left-winger Kristijan Trapanovski on the hour and the winger (above) announced his comeback from injury instantly, with a great strike into the bottom corner beyond the fully stretched Jack Butland in the Rangers goal.

If that was good, what was to follow from Craig Sibbald was even better when he fired a

stunning strike into the top corner from all of 25 yards to put United in front.

United though failed to hold on to the lead and came unstuck on 89 minutes when James Tavernier struck to earn a draw for Rangers much to the relief of those in the home stands who had bothered to stay.

United were obviously very disappointed to concede late after turning the game on its head and had two late chances to put the game to bed, but given how they had performed in the first-half a draw seemed fair enough and most Arabs would have taken it at 3pm given they have not won in Govan since 2011.

St Mirren were up next at Tannadice and once more the opposition dominated proceedings in the first period with a mistake from United’s keeper Yevhen Kucherenko gifting the Paisley side the lead before another error at the other end let United back into the game with a clever free-kick from striker Zac Sapsford levelling up proceedings. This came after the St Mirren keeper had been judged to have handled the ball outside the box from which United took full advantage.

The second-half was pretty even throughout, but it was all change late on when, with just six minutes left, a VAR decision saw Alex Gogic of St Mirren receiver a straight red card for a lunge on United striker Nikolaj Möller to give United a lifeline with a penalty kick.

After a shout from the bench from Goodwin, substitute Amar Fatah stepped up to strike the ball home with aplomb, with the crowd showing their obvious delight for the young Swede who was now able to lay to rest the ghost of his penalty miss against Rapid Vienna earlier this season.

There was still more to come though, with Sibbald trying to outdo himself from the previous week netting another banger into the top corner to seal the deal and make it 3-1 to the Tangerines. In short, United were very fortunate as St Mirren had taken control of the game for long periods but, as they say ‘we’ll take it’ and move on.

A midweek fixture at Motherwell saw a lacklustre performance from United where they went down 2-0 bringing an end to their unbeaten away record.

United barely got out of the traps and looked off the pace, being carved open down the flanks and exposed through some crisp passing and impressive movement from the home side. Therefore, it was inevitable Motherwell would take the lead, which they did through Tawanda Maswanishe just before the break.

United hit the post through Luca Stephenson on 70 minutes, but in fairness this would have been a huge slice of luck if it had have gone in as they offered very little throughout the game. Motherwell’s second came on 77 minutes and was really no surprise and rounded off the proverbial ‘bad day at the office’ for Goodwin and his side.

Next up was a tough test at Hearts where United knew they had to improve. United fell behind when a strike from Hearts’ Alexandros Kyziridis clipped the post and then struck the back of the unfortunate Kucharenko in the United goal and into the net.

A well-worked corner routine ending in a fine header from Stephenson, though, got United back on level and a take a well-earned point up the road.

A lot of positives can be taken from this game however with a battling performance that saw Hearts dropping points for only the third time this season.

United certainly looked good on the break and the pace of Sapsford up front caused the Jambos major problems as the Aussie had the ball in the net twice and turned provider for another disallowed goal—all three of which were ruled out correctly for offside.

United will welcome Falkirk next at Tannadice and will be hoping to improve on their league position of seventh place at time of writing.