McKinnon warning as United toil in the lower tier

DUNDEE UNITED manager Ray McKinnon last night insisted his players must heed their opening-day wake-up call after Queen of the South prevented them from getting off to a flier.

McKinnon watched his side stutter towards a draw courtesy of Dutchman Nick van der Velden’s memorable second-half strike which earned them a point after Mark Millar had given the visitors a first-half lead.

More than 7,000 supporters flocked to Tannadice to see if their promotion hopefuls could erase the memory of last season’s relegation from the Premiership as they aim for a return to the top flight at the first attempt.

It proved, however, to be a tense Tayside opener with summer signing van der Velden coming to their rescue to avoid defeat in McKinnon’s first Championship game at the helm.

McKinnon said: ‘It’s maybe the wake-up call my players needed.

‘They have to match every team which comes to Tannadice for the entire 90 minutes.

‘They won’t just get to play football and roll over teams here.

‘We had a wee chat after the game and they know this was a bit of an eye-opener because they got caught.

‘They need to know there’s a good standard in this league.’

It was a slow start and midway through the first half, Queens suffered a blow when captain Chris Higgins appeared to pull his hamstring and he was replaced by substitute Darren Brownlie.

Two minutes later, United keeper Cammy Bell was forced into the first save of the match when he gathered from Kyle Jacobs’ long-range effort.

As half-time approached, United striker Simon Murray was booked for a foul on Lyndon Dykes as the hosts’ frustration began to show.

And worse was to follow for the Taysiders when Millar put the visitors ahead in 40 minutes.

Dykes was the provider with a driving run and shot from the left which was well saved by Bell.

However, the rebound fell only as far as Millar and the ex-United midfielder swept the ball into the net from 10 yards.

United pushed for an equaliser and got their reward through van der Velden in 57 minutes.

Picking up Stewart Murdoch’s raking pass before flicking the ball over Jordan Marshall, the Dutch midfielder finished with an unstoppable volley outwith Lee Robinson’s reach.

Then, on 74 minutes, the hosts missed a sitter as van der Velden’s cut-back was perfect for Cammy Smith but he shot over the bar from close range.

‘I’m proud of the players,’ said Gavin Skelton, the Queen of the South manager. ‘We won’t get carried away but this result will give us confidence for the rest of the season.’