King puts brakes on Saints’ coronation
WHAT’S that old saying about having the patience of a Saint? Unfortunately for St Mirren, this particular waiting game is not what they had in mind. Not at all.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Needing just a point to clinch the Championship title, they slipped up at Tannadice and missed their opportunity to rub it in the faces of the club who were initially tipped for promotion.
And at the end of it all? An unsavoury spat between rival managers Jack Ross and Csaba Laszlo.
Buddies manager Ross claimed afterwards that his United counterpart had made ‘unacceptable’ comments at full-time to a member of his staff, believed to be goalkeeping coach Jamie Langfield.
Clearly riled by Laszlo, Ross said: ‘There were no words exchanged by me at the end... he said something inappropriate to one of the members of my staff.
‘He’s not my cup of tea. What he said to my staff was unacceptable.
‘What did he say? You’ll have to ask him — and good luck with that.’
Laszlo, on the other hand, denied he said anything inappropriate.
Hitting back at Ross, the Hungarian said: ‘He has to look first at his team. I think we must be fair to each other and I didn’t talk badly.
‘He has to ask his own person what he said. He is a young manager with emotion but I don’t think what happened is worth talking about.
‘I didn’t say anything inappropriate. What he told me, I told him back.’
The spat overshadowed a fine win for United on a night when Billy King scored after three minutes and the Tannadice side prevented St Mirren from scoring for the first time in a league game since December 2.
‘It’s ironic coming to Tannadice and seeing a Dundee United side camped in for long periods of the game,’ added Ross, whose side face second-placed Livingston on Saturday. ‘I can’t fault the boys in terms of the effort and desire.
‘I thought there could have been a caution earlier in the game, but that’s Scottish football, it’s competitive. Teams won’t roll over against us.
‘The boys will be okay. It’s human nature to be disappointed right now but we have put ourselves in the position where we have five opportunities to get a point to win the league.
‘Tonight was the first one to pass us by but we have four more, including three at home where we’ve lost once in 14 months.
‘I’m sure every other side in the Championship would take our position.’
Clearly not fancying the prospect of watching St Mirren fans celebrating, many United supporters stayed clear of this one. There were big gaps in the home stands.
But those who did bother to turn up were cheering after three minutes when their team took the lead.
Paul McMullan’s cross from the left was deflected to the far side of the box where King was waiting to fire a left-foot shot into the bottom corner.
That wasn’t in the script. Neither was the injury scare suffered by St Mirren captain Stephen McGinn midway through the half.
He had just floated a delightful ball from the right to Lewis Morgan on the far side when he fell to the turf holding his hamstring.
The skipper was able to continue, but it was a nervy moment for a key player.
Buddies left-back Adam Eckersley clipped the bar with a shot from 18 yards before McGinn proved he could sprint after all.
He raced to shove Thomas Mikkelsen after the United striker flew into a tackle on Ryan Flynn. McGinn and Mikkelsen were quickly booked.
St Mirren began to look hungrier. Right-back Liam Smith produced a teasing cross on the half-hour mark, which was met by Danny Mullen but his prodded effort came back off the bar.
Tensions were running high given what was at stake. McMullan was next to be booked by referee Andrew Dallas when he sent Smith flying with a late challenge.
Ross introduced top-scorer Gavin Reilly just after the hour mark as St Mirren pressed their hosts.
One goal. That was all St Mirren required as time ran out. With three minutes remaining, substitute striker John Sutton shrugged off his marker in the box, but his shot was too weak and blocked by United keeper Deniz Mehmet.
‘This is a better feeling than after the Dumbarton game (a 3-2 loss), absolutely,’ added Laszlo, whose team remain fourth in the league and in the final play-off spot.
‘Generally, I feel the team deserved the three points.
‘It’s always important you win against the first team. We have had bad results and I hope this one can now lift the team spirit.
‘We need to look at this performance and show the same on Saturday.
‘We showed pride to make sure St Mirren didn’t celebrate winning the league at our stadium.’ DUNDEE UNITED (4-2-3-1): Mehmet; Ralston, Durnan, Mohsni, Murdoch; Gillespie, Flood; King (Glass 90), Stanton, McMullan (Briels 86); Mikkelsen. Subs not used: Lewis, Scobbie, Robson, M Smith, Mason, Glass. Booked: Mikkelsen, McMullan, Durnan, Gillespie. ST MIRREN (4-2-3-1): Samson; L Smith, MacKenzie, Davis, Eckersley; McGinn (Sutton 74), Magennis; Flynn, C Smith (Hippolyte 80), Morgan; Mullen (Reilly 63). Subs not used: Stewart, Demetriou, Baird, McShane. Booked: McGinn, Davis, Morgan. Man of the match: Willo Flood. Referee: Andrew Dallas. Attendance: 5,905.