Dundee United manager Csaba Laszlo last night admitted he shared his supporters’ sense of frustration – and pleaded for time to turn his new-look side into a force.
The Tangerines are now all but out of the Betfred Cup with two games to play, and their fans were again left to endure another lacklustre afternoon which saw them lose to Alloa on a penalty shootout at Tannadice in front of only 1,659 fans.
Laszlo said: “It’s frustrating for me. I understand the fans frustrations, but I see these guys every day in training and I know there’s more to come from them.
“I’ve got complete faith in these guys. If we can hit the ground running in the league, then not many people will remember days like today.
“It’s frustrating because we played well for 80 minutes and then made a sloppy mistake which has cost us again.
“We’ve made a lot of changes this summer, so I think that may have something to do with it.
“Our performances haven’t been good enough in the League Cup so far.”
It all started pretty positively for the hosts. There was a freedom and purpose to their attacking play in the early stages.
However, it was the visitors who had the first scoring opportunity when new signing Greig Spence flicked an effort into the side netting following some neat interplay in the final third.
James Keatings then smacked a freekick over the bar from distance before Nicky Clark’s header hit the woodwork after good work from Jamie Robson.
The opening goal then arrived for the hosts just as the natives in a sparse Tannadice were starting to get anxious.
Frederic Frans, the summer arrival from Partick Thistle, met Fraser Aird’s delivery and bulleted the ball home.
United has opportunities to extend the lead, too. Young starlet Declan Glass twisted and turned before forcing Parry into a save. Then Paul Mcmullan’s rebound was thwarted by some heroic Alloa defending.
And they soon got their reward when Frans turned from hero to villain, fouling Jake Hastie inside the box for a penalty. Alan Trouten made no mistake from the spot as Alloa forced the match into penalty kicks for the bonus point.
The Wasps were faultless from the penalty spot while Stewart Murdoch and Mcmullan both missed for United.
The extra point lifts Jim Goodwin’s side to second in Group A and he said: “Over the whole piece, I thought the game plan worked really well. The guys carried out their duties to the letter of the law and we gave as a good as we got.”