Shanklandmisses out but still gets plaudits
Lawrence Shankland should have buried Aberdeen and left their manager Derek Mcinnes even more disconsolate than he appeared at the end of the tightest of games.
The Dons manager looked on as his former protégé rattled the home side’s crossbar in the opening stages and forced keeper Joe Lewis into a heroic stop close to the end.
Little wonder, then, that Dundee United boss Micky Mellon was singing his front man’s praises at the end as the Arabs finished strongly following an eye-catching second-half performance.
“He had the bit between his teeth today,” Mellon said of the 25-year-old Scotland attacker.
“We were all disappointed that we were below our levels against Celtic and we had a good chat to say that we expect more of ourselves.
“We were determined to hit those levels against Aberdeen and give the type of performance we need to aim to hit all the time to become this
force again that Dundee United should be in Scotland.
“Lawrence is going to keep producing those levels.
“He’s a cracking lad, very honest. He wears the weight of expectation on himself. He’s got to get rid but he’s very young at this level.”
Fans of both these clubs with long memories will recall that clashes between them in the halcyon days of the 1980s were seldom compelling.
The defenders saw to that. Much was always expected of this derby, but, in truth, many of those games when Sir Alex Ferguson and Jim Mclean ruled the roost in Scottish football seldom provided pulsating entertainment.
Fast forward 40 years and the thrust and drive were there, but no goals.
There was enough energy and desire, however, to underline a willingness in both ranks to find a win, and when Shankland made a little space for himself on the edge of the area in the ninth minute before unleashing a thunderous strike against the Aberdeen crossbar, no one could be forgiven for believing the pattern was in place for a goalfest.
Within a few minutes, however, the Dons displayed their eagerness for an early goal, firstly as Tommie Hoban came close with a header and then when Ross Mccrorie’s header was uncomfortably
near the target for United keeper Benjamin Siegrist.
It was an attack that sparked a series of raids on the visitors’ goal with their back three of Lewis Neilson, promoted to the starting line-up after Ryan Edwards injured himself in the warm-up, Mark Connolly and Mark Reynolds, kept busy.
Yet, both defences were predictably stoic, although Siegrist was called into action more than Joe Lewis, his Aberdeen counterpart in an opening 45 minutes packed with vigour and vitality, particularly from the hosts.
Yet, Shankland’s golden opportunity seven yards from goal five minutes after the interval would have resulted in an opener for the visitors had he done something to evade the attention of Andy Considine whose block of the shot was crucial.
Then, when Mark Connolly raced into the Reds’ penalty box with 10 minutes left, his contact in meeting Nicky Clark’s cross wasn’t clean enough to make a difference, even though Lewis had to effect a more than decent save.
But it was Shankland’s thunderous strike from distance two minutes from the end prompting Lewis to produce a stunning diving save, that was the moment Mellon’s men must have thought they’d clinched the points.