SINKING FEELING
Paatelainen left facing the drop as United slip up while relegation rivals stretch clear
SO, is this the end for Dundee United in the top flight? The survival hopes of Mixu Paatelainen’s side suffered a huge double body blow yesterday as bitter defeat at Tannadice was compounded by Kilmarnock’s victory elsewhere.
Dundee United remain anchored to the bottom of Ladbrokes Premiership table and are now eight points adrift of the Ayrshire side, and even though there are still five games left after the split, the heart appeared to be sucked out of Tannadice yesterday. They are on the brink and staring at relegation.
Referee Craig Thomson’s full-time whistle was greeted with jeers by the home fans, after goals in each half from Miles Storey and Iain Vigurs had given Inverness a deserved win. United still have a Scottish Cup semi-final with Hibernian on the horizon next week, but their precious elite league status could be over.
The Tannadice club were relegated to the second tier in 1995 and came straight back up the following season. Owner Stephen Thompson must now be hoping for an equally brief stay for his United generation.
In truth, this was a tame show from Paatelainen’s players after all the resilience they have demonstrated during the last month as they reduced the gap to Kilmarnock. Yesterday, they could only control what they themselves did, but the performance was unimpressive.
The result was also bittersweet for John Hughes, the Inverness manager. His side were pipped to the top six by Highland rivals Ross County, who won against Partick Thistle in Dingwall. Inverness still have one more pre-split match — at home to Hearts — to complete on Tuesday, after it was called off last week because of illness rife among the Tynecastle players, but the game now has no real significance.
If the end was muted, the start of the day was solemn. Before kick-off, Tannadice offered a heartfelt minute’s applause for former director Derek Robertson and ex-player Ian Britton, both of whom passed away recently.
Paatelainen showed faith in the team which lost at Partick Thistle in midweek. Meanwhile, Hughes had underlined before the match that his men had no right to expect to revisit the highs of last season, when they won the Scottish Cup, attained a top-five finish and qualified for European football.
The Inverness manager pointed to a dreadful catalogue of injuries. However, the lack of options up front has allowed Hughes to persist with Storey and the on-loan Swindon Town striker repaid the faith shown in him when he made the breakthrough in the 13th minute.
He had just missed a fine opportunity moments earlier when goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima blocked his shot after Ross Draper’s quick free-kick. Storey showed no lack of confidence as Inverness broke again, with Draper on the right setting him up again and this time he planted a cool right-foot finish beyond Kawashima from six yards.
Inverness wore their football beliefs on their sleeves during that first half, with confident passing from Draper, Greg Tansey and Liam Polworth. Tansey drew a save from Kawashima with a free-kick and then the Japanese goalkeeper had to provide another fine stop in the 26th minute, getting down to deny Gary Warren’s header from Polworth’s corner.
United’s plans were disrupted when Paul Dixon had to go off after 37 minutes. The left-back had received treatment for an ankle knock and was replaced by striker Simon Murray, an indication of Paatelainen’s concern that Billy Mckay was short of support up front.
Storey sought to take advantage of the distraction caused in the home defence by the change as he advanced into the box but, as a second goal beckoned, he sliced his left-foot shot wide of the post.
United re-emerged for the second half with some belief and Guy Demel almost equalised in the 48th minute, but Owain Fon Williams produced a superb reaction to touch the shot over the bar.
However, two minutes later Inverness doubled their lead. Storey had earned a corner and Tansey’s delivery was cleared only as far as Vigurs, who thrashed a firm 25-yard shot beyond Kawashima’s left, with the keeper unsighted by the posse of bodies in front of him. That was the signal for a few United fans in the stand behind Kawashima to head for the exits, which was a touch premature.
Paatelainen then lost another of his defenders when Gavin Gunning succumbed to injury, with Sean Dillon introduced. Scott Fraser had just replaced Ryan Dow, much to the displeasure of some fans.
United, though, had not thrown in the towel and Kyle Knoyle almost scored in the 67th minute when his right-foot shot was superbly saved by Fon Williams.
Vigurs could have made it 3-0 in the 82nd minute with a sublime left-foot shot, but Kawashima’s agility ensured he eclipsed that moment by pushing the ball for a corner.