Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Wilkie No win but Saints draw is a good foundation to build on for Tangerines
Lee
DUNDEE United’s return to the Premiership ended with a tinge of disappointment but the positives far outweighed the negatives.
Conceding their one-goal lead to 10-man St Johnstone was far from ideal and it felt like the kind of match a newly-promoted team might look back on with regret they didn’t win it.
However, being a new manager’s first match in charge and the players putting in a decent show, first half in particular, you can definitely say it’s a foundation to build on for the Tangerines.
I’d expect Micky Mellon will be thinking that.
He’ll certainly have got plenty of encouragement from parts of the display at an empty Tannadice.
There really wasn’t a big difference in the team from the one that won the Championship last season, youngster Lewis Neilson the only new face in the XI.
And they certainly held their own against an experienced top-flight side.
They were far the better side early on and created chances, got their goal and were good for the lead going into the break.
Jamie Robson at left wing-back had a very good game and I think playing the three-man defence helped him.
On the whole, the team defended well with 17-year-old Neilson thrown in for his debut.
I coached him for a while at Tannadice, he’s a great lad and has loads of ability so, even though I was a bit surprised to see him in the team, it was a real plus point.
That’ll also give the other young lads a wee boost to see there are chances to be had in the first team.
It was probably a good time to give him a debut, too, without fans in the stands and the pressure that comes with that.
Across the 90 minutes, United did create chances which will please the manager, though, I’m sure Lawrence Shankland will be raging with himself at the chance he passed up.
I FANCIED
Arsenal to lift the FA Cup at the weekend and it was good to see another young Scot picking up a winner’s medal in Kieran Tierney. The biggest shame was seeing an empty Wembley for the big showpiece
game.
He lost his man really well and it just looked like it was going to be a goal but he fired wide.
In the negative category would be the goal they conceded to Liam Craig after half-time.
I’m not sure what Mark Connolly was trying to do but it didn’t come off and hammered home the step up in quality.
If you give teams chances, they’ll punish you.
At the final whistle there was a bit of disappointment that they hadn’t managed to see the game out against 10 men.
Motherwell will be a step up this week again but there’s plenty to build on for Micky.