UNITED WE STAND
Clark is the goal hero... but supersub puts late rally down to overall character of team
HE wouldn’t have been happy, obviously. Would never have settled for a point at home against anyone. As news of Jim McLean’s death began to filter through in unconfirmed reports and whispered bulletins at Tannadice on Saturday, however, at least the current Dundee United s i de produced a l ate s how of r esi l i ence befitti ng t he cl ub’s legendary former boss.
And their position right now? Sitting fifth in the Premiership table as a newly-promoted team?
Well, McLean would certainly have f ound himself nodding along as goalscorer Nicky Clark declared: ‘This club should be at the top end of this league.
‘The fans expect that and the players expect that, too. Looking back at the first half of the season, we’re happy — and I hope we can continue.
‘We have a really good squad mixed with experience and young boys coming through who all want to do well.
‘ It’s one of the closest dressing rooms I’ve been in and, when it gets tough, we all get together and fight to the end. We’ve seen that in a few games now.’
United demonstrated strength of character on Saturday, having trailed for 81 of the 90 minutes and been c omprehensively outplayed by Motherwell for much of the afternoon.
Substitute Clark’s equaliser two minutes into stoppage-time came from a move of genuine quality, however. A fine Lawrence Shankland pass freed Luke Bolton to drive towards the bye line and cut back for Clark 12 yards from goal. His first shot was blocked. His second found the back of the net.
United have top- six quality in key areas. Especially at the top of the park.
Denied a place in the starting line-up when head coach Micky Mellon opted to stick with Shankland and Marc McNulty up front, Clarke said: ‘We got a good result in midweek (the 2-0 win over Kilmarnock) so we kept the same team. But I came on and scored.
‘I’ve done that most of the season so that’s all you can do. ‘ There’s good competition in the squad.
‘Me and Lawrence were here last season and we’ve brought in Marc, who is a great talent. So we have a good squad.
‘I have scored ten and eight in the league. As a striker you always want to score as many as possible and I’ve done that.
‘The next games are the ones you want to play in — Celtic at Parkhead and then Aberdeen.
‘We’ll take the positives from the Motherwell game and hopefully we can cause a wee upset there.’
Without a win in eight matches, the Fir Park side can ill afford many more set-backs.
Stephen Robinson’s team started
Saturday sitting sixth in the table, then had the six points they received f or St Mirren and Kilmarnock f orfeiting their games with the Steelmen suspended pending an appeal to the SPFL by both of those clubs.
Goalkeeper Tr e v o r Carson ( r i ght) confessed: ‘You drop from f i f th or sixth right down the table, of course it affects you. It’s natural.
‘The timing wasn’t ideal but the mana g e r had a meeting and flipped it into a positive. It’s up to us. If we don’t get handed those points, it’s not the end of the world. We j ust go and earn them. If it means going and playing the games, winning the games, so be it.’ Motherwell were so good for so long on Saturday that it’s tempting to imagine them going on a long winning run. Tony Watt was the stand-out p e r f o r mer, his free header putting the visitors ahead after j us t ni ne minutes.
But a failure to take second, third and fourth chances eventually came back to haunt the Steelmen.
Carson, back in the first team eight weeks after a knee operation that was supposed to keep him out for three months, said: ‘I do feel we can win and climb the table. You just have to manage the game better.
‘There are going to be days when the ball doesn’t go in the back of the net.
‘Those days you need to win 1-0, the way Rangers and Celtic do. They often dig out a 1-0. We just didn’t manage the last five minutes of the game right. And it’s gutting.
‘We had enough chances to win two or three games and it’s Sod’s Law that it comes back to bite you.’