Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Laszlo: Matty had hat-trick chance
DUNDEE United boss Csaba Laszlo’s first-half anger at Palmerston turned to delight as birthday boy Matty Smith sealed a 3-1 victory.
Csaba watched his side come from behind at Queen of the South after Dom Thomas gave the home side the lead with a curling effort after 21 minutes.
Thomas Mikkelsen quickly levelled matters before Smith, who turned 21 yesterday, stepped up with a second-half brace to win it.
Smith might even have had a hattrick after missing a chance late on.
For that, Csaba couldn’t hide his frustration despite enjoying the youngster’s performance.
He said: “I am just a little bit sad because Matty Smith had his birthday and to make a hat-trick on a birthday is not every day possible!
“For this I am angry about him but happy birthday and he made a good job, scoring two goals.”
The start to the game, however, didn’t please the United gaffer.
He added: “We didn’t play for three weeks because of the weather and before the game I was a little sceptical because we hadn’t seen the team in a competitive game.
“Queen of the South have been flying as well.
“Especially after conceding the first goal, I was very angry with how we defended.
“Normally, we must be more aggressive. At this moment, Queen of the South definitely had more of the game.
“In the second half, I thought tactically we had to change a little bit.
“We did that and had more ball possession and it was a good strike from Matty to give us the lead.”
Meanwhile, new signing Bilel Mohsni wasn’t able to make his debut for the club after international clearance for his move didn’t come through on time.
He is expected to be available for Saturday against Inverness, though.
Queen of the South boss Gary Naysmith, meanwhile, was disappointed with how the game went for his side.
He said: “We conceded a bad goal just after scoring, we didn’t hold the lead long enough.
“From probably being the better side in the first 45 to being 3-1 down at 60 minutes was hard to take.”
DUNDEE United goalkeeper Josh Donaldson has been called-up to Scot Gemmill’s Scotland U/21 squad for their Euro 2019 qualifier against Andorra next Friday.