Neilson thanks Lady Luck as Tangerines take points
ARBROATH 0 DUNDEE UNITED 1 Stanton (6)
Dundee United boss Robbie Neilson was delighted to see his side stretch their winning sequence to eight and open up a 13-point lead at the top of the table, but conceded they were perhaps a little fortunate to escape from Gayfield with a victory.
A deflected early goal from Sam Stanton separated the teams at the end of an enthralling contest in which Arbroath put the runaway league leaders under considerable pressure for long spells.
Neilson said: “We knew it would be a difficult game.
“Arbroath drew with Dundee here last week, they beat Inverness 3-0 earlier on, and they had only lost once at Gayfield this season.
“It is one of the hardest venues to come to and all credit to them, as we were lucky to come away with all three points.
“They have a very experienced squad and Dick Campbell has them playing well.
“But it was like a home game for us as we had a phenomenal backing from the fans today. There were 3,000 of them here and it was great to have that backing especially when we were under pressure.
“These are the types of games you have to win to have a chance of the title.
“It has been a great week for us and we are sitting in a good position. But we need to win every week and that’s what we’ll be trying to do. This is an important time of year now and there will be no nights out or anything like that as we need to keep our focus.”
United took the lead in the sixth minute when a Stanton shot was cruelly deflected off Lichties defender Colin Hamilton and beyond the reach of the helpless Derek Gaston.
Arbroath responded with a Bobby Linn free-kick, which Benjamin Siegrist did well to tip over the bar.
The home side continued to push for an equaliser and should have levelled in the 28th minute. Another Linn blockbuster free-kick was pushed out by Siegrist into the path of Hamilton but the Lichties defender completely missed the ball when it seemed he must score.
Ricky Little then came close with a header while, at the other end, Lawrence Shankland blasted a 30-yarder narrowly wide.
It was a similar pattern in the second half, with the home side pressing for an equaliser.
But United had a wonderful opportunity to kill the game in the 53rd minute when Gaston pulled down Nicky Clark in the box.
The Arbroath keeper made amends, however, by diving to his left to beat away Clark’s spot-kick.
From then on the Lichties continued to look the more threatening but couldn’t quite find the killer touch.
Arbroath manager Dick Campbell said: “We were beaten by gross bad luck.
“I am disappointed we didn’t take anything from the game as we made them work hard.
“We put in a very professional performance but we didn’t get a wee break in front of goal and that was the difference.”