Danes do Scandinavian pair are to the fore as Utd get better of Alloa in cup

PLAYERRATINGS

IT may be a bit early to be calling them great but Dundee United had good reason to be grateful for the presence of their two Danes as they eventually secured a safe Scottish Cup passage at Alloa.

Saturday’s tricky tie at the Indodrill Stadium saw Emil Lyng and Thomas Mikkelsen make significant contributions as the Tangerines ran out 2-0 winners.

Lyng marked his second start since joining up from Icelandic outfit KA at the beginning of the month by hitting the winning goal, his first for the club.

And the start of Mikkelsen’s second loan spell as a Tangerine saw him turn in a performance at the head of the attack that added power and control to United’s play.

Both certainly did enough to suggest there is much more to come from them, and more importantly than helping secure cup progression, that augurs well for the attempt to get back close to leaders St Mirren in the Championship promotion race.

Looking back to the weekend tie that only went ahead after a commendable effort by the Alloa ground staff to clear their synthetic pitch of snow, the Scandinavians impressed in the wintry conditions.

Moved out wide because of the arrival of Mikkelsen from Ross County, Lyng could not be described as a traditional winger.

As well as putting in a few decent balls, coming in from the wide areas the six-footer definitely added muscle to his team’s attacking play.

Operating down the centre, Mikkelsen grew into the game and, in the second half in particular, was a focal point of many of the United attacks.

Not having playing much up at County over the past couple of months or so, he’ll clearly need a game or two to get his match fitness back up to scratch.

On Saturday, though, he was still able to take the ball in and link well and, once United were on top, helped them retain control of the proceedings.

That made this a comfortable, if a touch unspectacular, success for Csaba Laszlo’s men and, after recent hiccups in the league, it was just what they needed.

If there was one disappointment for the manager and the i mpressive travelling support, it was it took too long for their team to gain that control.

Inside the first minute, the Wasps definitely should have taken the lead when Kris Renton crossed low for Jordan Kirkpatrick.

He blasted over from only six yards with the goal at his mercy and squandered the chance to give the underdogs a dream start.

While there were no further chances as gilt-edged as that one, Alloa proceeded to hold their own for most of the first half.

A Mark Durnan header from a Craig Slater corner just a minute before the break, however, appeared to settled United’s nerves.

A few strong words from the manager at the interval also helped and in the second half they were a much sharper looking outfit.

And once Lyng added the second with a deflected shot from a Sam Stanton pass, their place in yesterday’s draw for the fifth round was well and truly in the bag.