Niskanen notches his first as United just hold on to win
Niskanen (31)
Dundee United assistant boss Liam Fox admits he’ll have some grey hairs in the wake of their latest victory – but doesn’t care as long as they keep climbing the Premiership.
Fox watched the on-form Tangerines scrape past lowly Ross County in this tense Tannadice encounter to move within just four points of the summit of the table.
United edged this affair thanks to Finnish winger Llmari Niskanen’s first goal for the club which came after 31 minutes, before having to survive a stormy second-half as the relentless Staggies pushed for an equaliser which included striking the woodwork.
Fox said: “It doesn’t help the nerves for sure. I’ll have a few grey hairs soon! There were moments in the first-half when we could have capitalised a bit more but the game lasts 90 minutes.
“We knew County would come back at us, but we have real confidence in this group of players.
“You saw that by how they defend our box and throw themselves in front of things.
“County threw everything at us after the break. We were made to work extremely hard but we stood up to it.
“So any win is good. To be winning 1-0 is a good habit to get into and we’re delighted to be going into the international break with a win.
“We need to keep working hard every day and strive to improve as a group to keep moving forward.”
United welcomed Malky Mackay’s second-bottom strugglers who were still searching for their first win of the campaign. And the Highlanders soon found themselves under the cosh from an energised home team in pursuit of an early breakthrough.
The Tangerines’ first chance came from Peter Pawlett’s tempting cross which just evaded both Niskanen and Nicky Clark at the far post.
Then, in 14 minutes, United had another chance to break the deadlock when midfielder Ian Harkes raced through, but his shot was saved by on-loan Charlton keeper Ashley Maynard-brewer.
Harkes then released Dylan Levitt and the on-loan Manchester United youngster did get his shot away, only to see it trundle past the far post.
County were struggling to impose themselves although they did carve out a decent opportunity midway through the first-half.
Winger Joseph Hungbo went on one of his trademark darting runs and slipped the ball to Blair Spittal. Former United midfielder Spittal had overlapped into a promising position, but home keeper Benjamin Siegrist was equal to his effort.
However, United finally went ahead just after the hour-mark.
American ace Harkes was the driving force. He released a perfectlyweighted pass into the path of Niskanen, who took a touch before unleashing a left-foot shot which Maynard-brewer should have held but somehow let slip through his fingers, much to the delight of the 23-year-old who celebrated in front of the United support.
They almost doubled their lead in 39 minutes. A flowing move saw Nicky Clark set up Jeando Fuchs whose blistering 22-yard drive was tipped just round the post by Maynard-brewer.
Mackay didn’t hesitate in trying to freshen things up at the interval by throwing on towering striker Jordan White for Regan Charles-cook.
From then on, County kept their hosts on the back-foot with a serious spell of pressure.
Hungbo hit the post in 59 minutes before the same player saw his shot a few minutes later tipped round the post by the keeper.
Sub Dominic Samuel replaced Jordan Tilson towards the end. And within just two minutes, Samuel had the ball in the net but his 81st minute effort was deemed offside as the visitors cursed their luck.