The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
United have no time to brood
If Dundee United are to recover from their recent slump and salvage their top-six ambitions, they need to start making their own luck.
The Tangerines can rightly feel aggrieved after they saw not one, not two but three huge penalty calls go against them this week.
Against St Mirren on Wednesday night, the two spot-kicks wrongly given to the visitors before halftime killed the contest as the Buddies ran out 5-1 winners at Tannadice.
When Hibs came to town at the weekend, the Terrors were denied a blatant penalty of their own after Josh Doig clearly clawed the ball inside the box.
That one was less likely to have a bearing on the overall result, given Hibs were already deservedly 2-0 up and there were only 15 minutes of the match remaining.
However, it doesn’t help the sense of feeling for boss Micky Mellon and his men that everyone is against them right now amid a seven-game winless run.
It’s a mindset they need to get out of if they are to regain their top-six standing, lost to St Mirren after the Paisley side’s impressive 2-1 win at Celtic Park on Saturday.
Getting the disappointment out of his system, though, Mellon blasted whistler John Beaton – who was the referee for the Saints clash and fourth official when Hibs called in.
“If we’re going to have to take our medicine for the ones during the week, there has to be consistency,” he said.
“They have to go the right way in order to give yourself a good chance of getting results.
“The fourth official, John Beaton, who was the one who gave the penalties on Wednesday night, we spoke to him before the game and said we want the same treatment if there’s a handball in the box.
“He told us any kind of handball is a penalty and we want judged fairly but it just didn’t happen.
“The linesman is looking right across the line, right at it, and if the Lawrence Shankland one (against St Mirren) is a penalty then that’s a stonewall penalty kick.”
Asked if the match officials offered him an explanation, Mellon said: “You never do get one.
“They’ll carry on and ref another game on Wednesday and we have to deal with the confusion of what is a penalty any more?
“I don’t know. After Wednesday night, I presumed if it hits your hand, it doesn’t matter what speed it hits it at because that one was about 50mph at Lawrence, it’s a penalty.
“That never went way on Saturday.”
The frustration from Mellon was palpable and, largely, understandable.
Though, if United are to make something of their season, it’s an attitude they have to quickly shift with crucial games against relegation candidates Motherwell and Ross County this week.
It’s a battle the Terrors can’t afford to get dragged into but should take comfort in the fact they are still nine points off the bottom in seventh spot and are well in control of their own destiny.
Elements of the performance against Hibs, who took all three Premiership points thanks to goals either side of half-time from Darren Mcgregor and Martin Boyle, were good. our
The returning midfield duo of Jeando Fuchs and Calum Butcher, particularly, impressed – a point Mellon was keen to ram home as he analysed his team’s display.
He added: “I believe it was a tight game. There wasn’t much in it and I thought, in terms of taking the goals away, I thought we were the better side.
“We had most of the ascendancy but when we did get into good areas in the final third we probably lacked that rub of the green or showing a wee bit more quality or composure.
“We got into some good areas on Saturday and played at a really good tempo.
“A goal from another set-play – we do work on them, meticulously going over them and everybody’s got a role to play in them.
“The second goal, I think we’re in the ascendancy and just make a really bad decision on the halfway line.
“We got turned over and they were in. With the pace of Boyle, it was always going to be difficult.
“It was a good pass from the lad but still a sore one to see. I don’t think we deserved that at that stage.
“We keep going, keep battling away and try to build on the good things that we did on Saturday and go forward.
“I’ve got to take my emotion out of that and keep helping a group of players to move forward.
“I think they did that on Saturday and I was pleased with a lot of stuff.
“I think Fuchs and Butcher coming back in were sensational. People may argue but, in my opinion, they were probably the two best players on the pitch.
“We certainly have the players and we absolutely know that, at some stage, it will all click and we’ll be fine.”
Mellon was confident in his assertion that it will all work out in the end for his Dundee United team but, the harsh fact is, many Arabs are still asking: ‘Will it ever click?’
The week ahead should tell us a lot about his United side and whether they’ll pay the ultimate penalty for what has, of late, been a distressing malaise.
“I’ve got to take my emotion out of that