It’s all over bar the shouting for a club now embarrassing its own supporters

THEIR team couldn’t even muster a death rattle, never mind a genuine attempt to kick themselves clear of the drop. But at least the Dundee United fans managed to find their voice.

The protest against chairman Stephen Thompson at full-time, with around 150 gathering in front of Tannadice to declare their disapproval, was eye-catching enough. More telling, perhaps, was the quiet tête-à-tête between midfielder John Rankin and one disgruntled diehard at the end of an utterly abject 3-1 home defeat to Hamilton Academical.

‘One punter called me over and told me he’d just come off a 12-hour night shift to watch that,’ said Rankin, who looked emotionally drained by the experience.

‘I sympathise with him because, if you put in performances like that, you deserve to be in the Championship.

‘Let’s not kid anyone on, we were terrible. And I feel for him, feel for all the punters, because they pay their hard-earned cash to come and watch us.

‘Our performances all season have not been up to scratch. I don’t even know how many home games we’ve won, two if we’re lucky. It’s not acceptable.

‘I feel for them, I really do, and I stayed at the end to applaud the fans. A few of us did because that’s the least they deserve.’

With a nod to the gathering mob outside, Rankin added: ‘We could hear them from the dressing room; we couldn’t see them, but we could hear it. It’s never nice.

‘Obviously, you hear what they’re shouting, it’s not nice — especially as most of it is caused by our performance.’

That Dundee United will depart the SPFL Premiership in meek fashion soon enough is now beyond all reasonable doubt. Even if they avoid the nightmare scenario of being relegated at Dens Park next Monday, the end will come at some other venue in due course.

Handed a perfect opportunity to gain ground on the two teams just about, maybe, possibly within reach yesterday, Mixu Paatelainen’s team ended the day stumbling around like bewildered and broken men.

Even the consolation goal from sub Simon Murray a minute from time felt like an insult, the ultimate too little, too late gesture from a team who have made a habit of insulting their supporters with limp and lifeless performances.

Accies, who put the rubber stamp on their own escape from the threat of automatic relegation, were no more than competent and professional. That was all it took to comfortably dispose of easily the worst team in this division.

Grant Gillespie’s first ever top-flight goal — an absolute beauty — and a double from Carlton Morris did the damage at the fag end of an ill-fated campaign for Thompson’s (right) club, although the score might have been worse.

Slow to start and going downhill from there, United’s tendency towards self-destruction was never far from the surface. Simply by turning up ready to drop balls on top of the home defence, Hamilton managed to unnerve their hosts.

Dougie Imrie, still a threat at 32, exposed one of the weaknesses inside the first 10 minutes, nipping in between two tangerine jerseys and simply bundling his way past Sean Dillon, his shot from a tight angle well saved by Eiji Kawashima.

If the Japanese goalkeeper deserved praise for covering all the bases on that occasion, was he just a half a yard out of position for the opener? That’s not taking anything away from Gillespie, who took a pass inside from Morris first time to send a 25-yarder screaming past Kawashima. But it did go in off the keeper’s inside post.

How Accies weren’t more than just the one goal ahead by half-time is something of a mystery, given the advantages they held.

Carlton Morris had two fairly strong penalty appeals waved away, both times involving challenges by Guy Demel, and the Hamilton striker rather wound himself up into being booked for diving soon after.

Ali Crawford also shot wide of the target after being played into a vacant area of the penalty box by Gillespie, whose pass seemed to make home defenders vaporise. Or at least vacate the vicinity.

Just before half-time, everything that is wrong about this United team was summed up in one moment. Crawford’s long free-kick into the box was always going to land on the head of Lucas Tagliapietra, who was being marked by Demel.

With the ball halfway to its destination, Demel just decided to back away from his man, leaving the Accies defender with a free header no more than eight yards out from goal. Kawashima came to the rescue with a superb save. But, mercy, this was amateur-hour stuff.

The introduction of Edward Ofere for Ryan Dow and a switch to three at the back, Demel moving in between Dillon and Mark Durnan, definitely gave the home side some fresh impetus at the start of the second half.

Indeed, if not for the woodwork and then a stunning save from Michael McGovern, this game would have been tied just a few minutes after the interval. It all began with a bold break down the left, Rankin sending Paul Dixon to the bye-line and the full-back delivering a delicious cross.

Billy Mckay rose to connect with a powerful header that cannoned off the foot of the post, rebounding directly to the striker, whose snap shot was quite brilliantly parried by a diving McGovern. Were United threatending a fightback?

Not when Hamilton almost instantly went 2-0 up. Imrie’s cross from the right was nodded on to the bar by Greg Docherty — and fell right on the head of a blissfully unmarked Morris, who simply placed the ball into an empty net.

Now, Accies are nobody’s idea of a great side. They’ve certainly had some defensive weaknesses exposed this season. Surely United should have been able to take even limited advantage of these faults?

Scott Fraser came close with an impressive run and shot, while the midfielder also delivered a corner that saw Ofere denied by McGovern — with a big assist from the crossbar. When you’re down, nothing runs your way.

The brief flurry from the home team did not last, their misery complete when Morris grabbed his second in a manner designed to heap further humiliation on the hosts.

Easily outmuscling Demel to win a bouncing ball, he slipped a pass to Crawford — then buried the rebound on the volley after Kawashima had spooned the midfielder’s shot into the air.

Murray’s chip over McGovern with a minute of time remaining meant nothing. Many fans had left by then, some to wander home, others to vent their disgust in a semi-organised gathering.

All over bar the shouting, then. And facing the humiliating — but very real — possibility of seeing it all end in front of a crowing Dens crowd next week.