The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Stanton to leave United for Phoenix
DUNDEE UNITED: Spectacular cup strike adds to derby television gem
Sam Stanton has played his last game for Dundee United and will move to America, writes Eric Nicolson.
Courier Sport understands that a deal to take the midfielder to Phoenix Rising has been agreed.
The Arizona club, founded just six years ago, play their football in the second tier USL Championship.
Stanton, who has missed United’s last few games with a hamstring injury, will leave Tannadice having made a significant contribution to the Tangerines’ promotion push.
He has made 22 appearances this season and between November and December scored three goals in five games, the most significant being the winner in a tight contest at Arbroath.
Meanwhile, Cammy Smith will have a trial with Dundalk after Partick Thistle cooled their interest in the former Aberdeen and St Mirren man.
Dundee United supersub Louis Appere believes he “proved a point” to manager Robbie Neilson with his Scottish Cup equaliser on Sunday.
The young forward had no argument with Neilson’s opinion that his form had dipped of late.
And he also hopes that there will be no argument about the standard of his response to being benched for the weekend cup clash with Hibs.
Appere’s individual brilliance secured an Easter Road replay for the Tangerines next week and, for the man himself, hopefully secures him a start in it.
“That’s a fair assessment,” said Appere regarding Neilson’s observation on his recent form. “In the last game I didn’t play as well as I would’ve liked but I’ve come on today and I think I’ve proved a point.
“There’s a lot of competition for these positions out left and up top.
“There are so many good players here so if you do have a little dip, it’s fine because someone else will come in. You’ve just got to fight your way back in.”
That’s twice Appere has come up with a spectacular strike in a live TV game at Tannadice – the first derby of the season being the other occasion.
“I try to play as well as I can every game but I like the big occasions,” he admitted. “They excite me.
“You get those nerves obviously, but I look forward to these sort of games especially.”
Reflecting on Sunday’s goal, Appere said: “I’m happy with it. Coming on that left side I just wanted to be direct and get at the full-backs, who were maybe tiring.
“When I hit the shot I was just delighted it went in. It got a result for us.
“That’s what the manager likes me to do – be direct, be fearless – and I think I did that when I came on.
“Ian Harkes was saying he was open but I only had one thought in my mind when I was cutting in there and that was just hitting it.
“I was a bit worried it was going to hit the post but it has hit it and gone in so I’ll take it.”
He added: “We wanted to show we can go out there and compete with these teams and we proved that we can.
“I suppose a draw was fair. We got that goal and Shanks’ goal before half-time was a really important one.
“We were unfortunate to concede right away after half-time but then the goal I scored got us back in to it.
“It could have really gone either way in the end so maybe 2-2 was a fair result.”
Appere’s career path has been anything but normal but a spell in the juniors with Broughty Athletic and a trial in Italy before that have helped make him the player he is today.
“When I went down there (junior football) I thought that dream of being a footballer was maybe slipping away,” he said. “But I just wanted to give them everything I had and play as well as I could.
“I did that, had a good pre-season and it’s gone well so I’m delighted.”
Appere added: “I was at AM Soccer and Austin MacPhee sent a video over to Roma and they liked what they saw. I went over for a few days so it was a good experience.
“The trial was a nice experience. Signing for United was obviously brilliant and the juniors was a learning experience but I took it in my stride.”