Ray of light for United title bid
RAY McKINNON must have left Paisley last night believing his side can now go on and win the Championship. His Dundee United players produced the goods when it mattered and both of their goals were simply stunning.
The first came in the 38th minute from Scott Fraser and the other from Tony Andreu in the 74th minute.
As United look towards bouncing straight back up to the Premiership, bottom club St Mirren’s only thoughts are avoiding tumbling down into League One. A second relegation in three seasons would be catastrophic for the Paisley club.
Jack Ross took charge for the first time yesterday and was rightly pleased with some of the stuff he witnessed. When it mattered, of course, they could not stop the brilliance from Andreu, but the on-loan Norwich player has the technical ability and vision to destroy any team in this division.
Ross would have been pleased with the way his team gave their all and created chances. On another day they may well have scored three goals. What they do need, however, is training-ground work on defensive shape and communication between their defenders and midfielders.
Although they are now just three points off the top of the table, things are also tough for United manager McKinnon, but in a different way. He has to keep his side motoring and focused. They also need to be more disciplined in defence. Yes, they got a clean sheet yesterday but they absolutely rode their luck.
However, they scored when it mattered and they deserved this victory. The only blemish was the red card in the 88th minute for defender Mark Durnan for his second bookable offence.
‘We were excellent in the first half and things are coming together now,’ said McKinnon. ‘Tony Andreu’s finish was brilliant and Scott Fraser is an unbelievable talent. He just needs to bring consistency to his game.
‘I had a word with Mark Durnan about the red card and he told me he forgot he had been booked earlier. What do you say to that? But, overall, a really good day for us.’
Amazingly, Durnan’s two bookings both came within three minutes of one another. Memory loss? Really?
United’s talented players passed and moved well. They pulled the Saints into areas they did not want to go. It looked as though that would eventually lead to a goal and it did, courtesy of Fraser.
The ball was rolled into the feet of Andreu at the edge of the area and he backed into his marker, waiting for the precise moment to release the ball. The timing of the run from Fraser was perfect and he received a beautiful little dink from his team-mate, right into his path.
He did not need to break stride as he collected the ball just inside the box and then placed a lovely rightfoot shot past Jamie Langfield from 14 yards.
McKinnon’s men wrapped up the victory when sub Simon Murray beat Langfield to a 50-50 ball but the keeper managed to block the striker’s effort. However, the ball broke kindly for Andreu, 20 yards out.
He had options to his left and right, but chose the most difficult and that was to chip the keeper and it sailed beautifully into the back of the net.
The home team deserve credit for never giving up. Substitute Lawrence Shankland came close on two occasions and Tom Walsh also pressed the goal.
Buddies boss Ross said: ‘I don’t think we necessarily deserved to lose the game. There was a lot to be pleased about, really encouraging things. If we can play like that then we’ll be okay.’