FALLING BELOW STANDARDS
Reynolds is demanding end to away day misery
DUNDEE UNITED captain Mark Reynolds knows they must cut out the Jekyll and Hyde performances if they are to get their title bid back on track.
Despite leading the Championship, Reynolds admits their displays are ranging from tremendous to terrible. And, at Palmerston, it was definitely in the latter category as they went down to a rampant Queen of the South.
United had hoped to bounce back from their defeat at Alloa prior to the international break, but instead endured more away-day misery.
Robbie Neilson’s charges have yet to drop at point at Tannadice but, on the road, they have lost their last three league games.
And Reynolds claims it is a miracle they are still top after their recent slip-ups, after title rivals Ayr United and Inverness Caledonian Thistle both blew winning positions on Saturday and failed to take advantage of their latest stumble.
‘We were rubbish,’ said the defender. ‘Absolutely not good enough, we lost four poor goals. You are loathe to say things because it looks like excuses if you start blaming this or that, but we just were not good enough and we are a team right now that is just experiencing extremes.
‘When we are good, we are very good and when we are not on it, we’re terrible.
‘If you want to win a title, you need to have a more of an even keel than that. You need to have more resoluteness about you, so on days when it’s not going for you, you just dig out a 1-0 result.
‘We’re living in extremes. When we do lose, it’s the manner in which we are losing. We should never be going down 4-0. We knew we wouldn’t win every game this season, we knew there would be slip-ups. ‘Look at the results on Saturday, they all went for us and, in the last five minutes, they have all turned and, by some miracle, we’ve managed to stay top of the league. ‘It’s a long season, it’s a tough league and you don’t have a divine right to turn up and win, so we’ll go away, work hard and come back stronger next week.’ United were second best all over the park and their fragility at the back was ruthlessly exposed by Stephen Dobbie. The Queens captain had yet to open his goalscoring account in the league this season, but that changed after 19 minutes when he headed home from close range. Kevin Holt added a second before the interval after some woeful United defending at a corner. After the break, Dobbie was once again on the scoresheet and Michael Paton rounded off the scoring after Benjamin Siegrist spilled a shot. Dobbie was immortalised on a wooden statue along with Queens
legends Billy Houliston and Allan Ball, which was unveiled prior to the game, as part of the Palmerston club’s centenary celebrations.
The prolific striker insists he was honoured by the tribute and was relieved to be among the goals, although he never doubted his league drought would soon end.
‘It’s a great honour,’ he said. ‘To think about all the players that have been here in 100 years and to have a statue of yourself along with two legends, I’ll never forget it.
‘There were other boys that have had testimonials and could have been more worthy of being up there but maybe my goalscoring last year just tipped it for me.
‘I have been doing extra shooting practice, but I really never doubted it would turn.’