Sluggish United finally down Sons
DUNDEE UTD 2 Docherty (53, o.g.), Edjenguele (66) DUMBARTON 1 R. Thomson (73)
DUMBARTON had already provided United with one wake-up call this season, beating them back in August.
And a second victory looked on the cards after Tangerine keeper Cammy Bell was forced into two excellent firsthalf saves from Garry Fleming and Robert Thomson.
However United shook off their insomnia after the break.
Manager Ray McKinnon moved Nick van der Velden in from the cold to lead the line and it worked a treat.
The elegant Dutchman became far more involved as did Tony Andreu who dropped back to play just behind him with Scott Fraser moving out to occupy the wide role.
Afterwards, McKinnon explained: “Our problem is we don’t have a natural number nine.
“That’s why we rotate the players so much.
“The half-time switch got Nick more into the game, Scott stretched things moving out wide and Tony found more space playing slightly deeper.
“We had to be patient because the pressure is on us every game.
“Fortunately our fans understand that and kept right behind us.
“They could easily have turned on us at half-time but didn’t. I thought they were brilliant.
“They understood Dumbarton are not an easy side to play against.
DUNDEE UNITED
Bell 7; van der Struijk 7, Donaldson 6, Edjenguele 6, Dixon 6; Flood 6, Telfer 6; van der Velden 7, Fraser 6, Obadeyi 5(Coote 88,5); Andreu 6. Unused subs – Zwick (GK), Dillon, Murray, C.Smith, B.Smith, Allardice.
DUMBARTON
Martin 7; Smith 6, Barr 6, Buchanan 6, Harvie 6; Docherty 7; Todd 5 (Stirling 66,5), J.Thomson 6(McCallum 87,5), Stanton 6, R.Thomson 6; Fleming 6 (Stevenson 80,5). Unused subs – Ewings(GK), Pettigrew, Wright.
“They’ve already produced one banana skin for us this season.”
Before the break both keepers were called on to make some stunning stops.
Bell pulled off a reflex reaction to prevent Fleming scoring from close range then he dived to his right to produce a one-handed stop to keep out Thomson’s header from Josh Todd’s cross.
Alan Martin was also heavily involved, firstly getting a finger-tip on to the post from Fraser then touching his free kick over the bar.
There was no focal point to United’s attack in with Andreu dropping too deep in search of the ball.