DON’T BRAND US A BUNCH OF WASTERS
Connolly calls United streetwise as he hits back at Queens claims leaders slowed the game down
MARK CONNOLLY swept Dundee United another step closer to the Championship title before brushing off accusations they are time-wasters.
The Irish defender rose to head home a Nicky Clark corner in the 48th minute as the Tangerines ground out another win to remain 14 points clear at the top.
But Queens boss Allan Johnston was fuming with the Tannadice men at full-time, claiming their gamesmanship wasn’t becoming of a tabletopping side and accusing them of short-changing the paying punters. Johnston said:
“People pay money to come and watch a game. They don’t want to see people rolling about the ground wasting time.”
Connolly, who was making his first start in over four months, limped off with cramp in the 70th minute.
But the central defender hit back and said: “If they had been 1-0 up against us they would have slowed things down.
“I genuinely had cramp. I’ve not played in months.
“I was speaking to Stephen Dobbie and I was saying, ‘Listen mate, I’m genuinely cramping up here’.
“But listen, you have to be streetwise. You have to do everything you can to win this league.
“We have got the result and they will be frustrated at part of the game.
“But we came here to do a job and we’ve done that. We’ve got three points to take back up the road.
“Do we feel we are certs for the league? Absolutely not. We’ve just got to keep getting results. There’s a gap of 14 points there.
“We just need to make sure we keep doing the business because we’ve got difficult games coming up.
“We did that today. We had
a few boys missing and a few more had to come off but we ground it out.
“That says a lot about this team and how the manager has changed the mentality of this football club.
“Over the years we’ve struggled but this season we are going in the right direction.
“We’ve still got a long way to go but hopefully we can be successful.."
United edged a tight affair to avenge the 4-0 drubbing dished out by Queens on their last meeting at Palmerston.
Both sides were without key men going into the match with the Dumfries men only able to
name four substitutes while United, already without Sam Stanton, Ian Harkes and Paul McMullan, saw Calum Butcher and Connolly hobble off in the second half.
The Doonhamers kept the away side’s dangerman Lawrence Shankland quiet and shaded the first half.
Queens should have been ahead at the break after a flowing move involving Scott Mercer, Jack Hamilton and Stephen Dobbie ended with Hamilton’s effort from close in being blocked by United fullback Liam Smith on the line.
The winner arrived three minutes into the second half. Connolly lost his marker to thump home a header from Clark’s corner and it was almost 2-0 moments later when Smith’s fizzing 20-yarder was brilliantly saved by Queens keeper Robby McCrorie.
The home side pushed for a leveller late in the game and Kevin Holt thought he’d netted with a late header only to see the ball go just wide.
Queens remain four points off the promotion play-off spots and with a game in hand. And on-loan Livingston striker Jack Hamilton, returning to the Doonhamers starting line-up after a two-month injury battle, is confident they can achieve that aim.
He said: “We had a few missing so it was a bit of a makeshift team but we just had to try our best.
“The play-offs are still the target. We had a couple of good results before this and if we keep playing the way we are we can definitely push for a top-four finish.”