Goodwin bemoans lack of ‘basic principles’ as first half costs United

JIM Goodwin accepted that Dundee United blew it against Dunfermline during a dismal opening 45 minutes last night.

“The opening 45 minutes is where we lost the game,” said Goodwin.

“We got a lot of pats on the back for our recent away performances at Partick Thistle and the win at Morton, where we showed all the battling qualities you need.

“Tonight, we didn’t start the game properly.

“The pitch obviously makes life difficult – especially for us, a team that likes to get the ball down and play. We didn’t adapt to that, and it felt like they won all their individual battles.

“We didn’t pick up enough second balls in the midfield. Those are basic principles you need to gain momentum and Dunfermline did them a lot better than we did.”

A third defeat in seven games for United means that Raith Rovers have a golden opportunity to move two points clear at the summit of the Championship when they visit Queen’s Park today.

Goodwin added: “Tonight is sore. We had a great travelling support through, and we let them down in the opening 45 minutes.

“We created numerous chances in the second half and, if we had taken another one of them with 15 to 20 minutes to go, then it would have made the game interesting.

“However, there are seven games to go.

“The likelihood of us winning tonight and the next seven was going to be a big ask, so we have to accept what happened and move on to the next one.”

Meanwhile, Dunfermline manager James McPake hailed one of his side’s best performances of the season.

Matty Todd’s early strike and a Kane Ritchie-Hosler double either side of halftime capped off a dominant display by the Pars.

McPake singled out striker Alex Jakubiak’s contribution after the former Dundee striker was involved in all three goals and proved to be a handful all evening for the Dundee United defence.

The Pars were sent on their way when Jakubiak sliced through the United defence and steered the ball towards Ritchie-Hosler.

The Englishman steadied himself before picking out Todd to apply the finish.

Ritchie-Hosler sealed the win with his first goals of an injury-ravaged campaign, meaning Kyle Benedictus’ own goal was a mere consolation.

“It was one of our best performances of the season,” said McPake.

“It was definitely Alex Jakubiak’s best performance in a Dunfermline shirt. That’s the player I know and I’m delighted for him.

“We know when we are on the front foot here, this place gets behind us. We started well and it helped us massively. It also kept the United fans quiet.

“I don’t like using injuries as an excuse but you can see now the difference it makes when we’ve got all of our players back.

“I feel for Kane, taking him off when he was on a hat-trick.

“But the key thing is we have him back fit now and playing really well.”

Jim Goodwin can barely look on at East End Park.