Utd show First-half goals enough as McMullan inspires Tangerines to 3-0 win

PLAYERRATINGS

IT was a case of job done for Dundee United as they eased to a 3-0 victory at Highland League Buckie Thistle.

Games like these always have the possibility of a banana skin but, after an excellent first-half flurry, the end result was never in doubt.

The home side did OK, working hard and causing United one or two problems but overall the difference between the sides was vast and the scoreline easily could have been much more without some good goalkeeping and United taking their foot off the gas.

It was a slow burner to begin with but once the Tangerines started to get Paul McMullan on the ball, the Championship side took this Betfred Cup tie away from their hosts, and took it away quickly.

McMullan had already made Arabs stand up and take notice after a fine debut goal on Saturday against Raith Rovers and once again was the stand-out performer.

Pacey, with tricks and good movement, McMullan pulled the defence this way and that in the first half and almost opened the scoring as he drew a good save from Buckie keeper Daniel Bell on 13 minutes.

He made no mistake four minutes later after the home defence failed to clear Billy King’s cross as t wo defenders went for the same ball, finding the bottom corner with a volley from close range.

King on the other wing was causing problems of his own and those two promise to give United something a bit different this season from last.

Their ability to go at defences with pace looks like it will bear fruit.

And King himself opened his goalscoring account for the club with a good strike of his own, cutting inside on his left foot and firing a low shot into the corner.

James Keatings showed plenty, too, up front with some nice touches and he set up goal No 3 with a good delivery from a corner giving Mark Durnan the chance to sweep the ball home.

From there everyone in the ground expected the Tangerines to power on and add more goals but it just didn’t quite happen. Not that they didn’t have chances. William Edjenguele had one cleared off the line, King only had to connect with McMullan’s cross to find the net again but missed the ball, while Patrick N’Koyi was denied by Thistle goalie Bell a couple of times.

The big striker had flashes of ability but looks to be well short of match sharpness.

He’ll be disappointed not to have got on the scoresheet but game-time like that will be invaluable for him and, to be fair, credit has to go to the keeper for denying him.

The disappointing thing for the manager was the second-half performance from his side.

With the points in the bag against a Highland League side, the United players lost their urgency and the match fizzled out.

They had a couple of chances with Buckie putting on a wee bit of pressure, too, but nothing to threaten the scoreline.

What could be a massive disappointment, though, is the injury sustained by Keatings late on.

United finished the match with 10 men after the former Hibs man went down with an ankle i njury after shooting.

He looked in pain and was stretchered off — something Ray McKinnon certainly didn’t want to see.