Mellon hails his deadly double act as United soar up to fifth spot
IN the end, the di f f er ence between Dundee United and Kilmarnock was striking. As the Tannadice side soared up to fifth place with this victory, manager Micky Mellon was l eft purring after f ront two Marc McNulty and Lawrence Shankland ended their respective barren spells in front of goal.
In getting off the mark in his ninth game for the Tayside club, McNulty also stirred Shankland into life.
Within three first-half minutes, the Scotland international had j oined his colleague on t he scoresheet, notching after 11 games without a goal for club and country.
Even when McNulty left the field, United boss Mellon was able to call upon his top scorer from the bench in Nicky Clark, who has nine league goals already this season.
How Alex Dyer (below) would love to have those kind of attacking riches for a Killie side that has now suffered seven defeats in their last eight league outings and have not scored in any of those losses.
It was a very satisfying night for Mellon, whose side are now leading the group of eight clubs outwith the runaway top four of Rangers, Celtic, Aberdeen and Hibernian.
Afterwards the United boss praised his front pairing, who he knows have had to wait patiently to play as a partnership.
‘It was special to see both of my strikers scoring,’ said Mellon.
‘ They are both very clever players and they enjoy playing alongside each other.
‘What I will say is that they have suffered at times because they play well as a pair but we have felt we have wanted some defensive solidity, which meant that did not allow us to have two strikers and wide men in the team at times.
‘As much as possible, we want to try and have two strikers but we have to be respectful of the opposition we are up against sometimes and we can’t always play with two.
‘But we did that tonight and it was great to watch. It was a good performance. Kilmarnock under Alex Dyer are a very organised side and very established at this level.
So we knew we had to get most things right to get a result.
‘We are now fifth and we are delighted. If it was any other team coming up from the Championship (and sitting fifth), then people would maybe say: “wow” but they look at our stadium and our history and they think Dundee United should be up there. But we embrace those expectations.’
But Kilmarnock were not without chances. First, a long punt up t he park saw Eamonn Brophy haring down on goal.
But his leftfoot shot from the edge of the box was easily gathered by Dundee United’s impressive goalkeeper Benjamin Siegrist who, as Sportsmail revealed yesterday, is a January signing target for Celtic target. At the other end, United’s Jamie Robson burst up the park and picked out Shankland in the box. But the Scotland striker’s shot was tame and posed no danger to Danny Rogers. Killie then missed their best chance of the game when Chris Burke’s cutback met Greg Kiltie at the edge of the six- yard box. He should have buried it but his shot on the turn flashed just wide of goal. United made Kiltie pay for t hat wasted chance when McNulty picked up a pass from Shankland and drove forward at the Killie backline.
He looked up then picked his spot, sending the ball beyond Rogers and low into the far corner.
Shankland soon joined him on the scoresheet three minutes later as United took what turned out to be an insurmountable lead.
Luke Bolton was the provider down the left, skipping away from Killie defenders Kirk Broadfoot and Stuart Findlay before picking out Shankland at the edge of the six-yard box.
The striker dispatched a trademark tidy finish beyond Rogers.
Late on, Kilmarnock were lucky not to give away a penalty when Findlay fouled Paul McMullan in the box.
This latest defeat means the Rugby Park side remain in peril, tied on 17 points with St Johnstone and Hamilton Accies, just four ahead of rock-bottom Ross County.
How Dyer could be doing with the services of a McNul ty, Shankland or Clark.
‘How worrying is the lack of goals? It’s worrying because we want to score goals and win games,’ said the Kilmarnock boss.
‘But when you don’t put the ball in the net, you’re always going to be under pressure. That’s where we are at right now.
‘We’ve got a tough period coming up because we play teams around us in our next four games.
‘So we know we have to try and get as many points as we can from those matches.
‘But we know it’s only a matter of time. With a little change of luck and good fortune, we can get ourselves back on track.’
DUNDEE UNITED (4-4-2): Siegrist 7; Smith 7, Connolly 7, Reynolds 7, Robson 7; Bolton 7 (Sporle 81), Butcher 6 (Pawlett 61), Fuchs 6, McMullan 6; Shankland 7, McNulty 7 (Clark 76). Subs not used: Deniz, Powers, Edwards, Harkes, Appere, Neilson. Booked: None. KILMARNOCK (5-4-1): Rogers 6; McKenzie 6, Dikamona 5 (Kabamba 61), Broadfoot 6, Findlay 5, Waters 6; Burke 6, Power 6 (Mulumbu 74), Tshibola 6, Kiltie 5 (Pinnock 61); Brophy 6 (Whitehall 73). Subs not used: Doyle, Taylor. Booked: Power. Man of the match: Marc McNulty. Referee: Steven McLean.