United able to hold on after Caley rally
IT WAS hard to know if this victory would have brought a little joy or simply fresh frustration to the Dundee United faithful after four straight defeats. There was pleasure certainly in a rousing return to winning ways, but the cry of too little, too late hung in the air.
Simon Murray, with a first-half double, and former Inverness striker Edward Ofere created a handsome lead before the Highlanders stormed back with goals from Jordan Roberts and Liam Polworth.
Just days after their relegation was sealed, it was an impressive show of resolve from a group of players mostly set to scatter in different directions this summer.
But United’s defensive frailties were exposed before and after they were reduced to 10 men with a second booking for Callum Morris contributing to the home revival.
After a traumatic week at Tannadice, all of the pre-match focus was on how United, under the temporary charge of assistant manager Gordon Young, would react to morale-crushing events off the field.
With club chairman Stephen Thompson going public on the clear-out of playing personnel, only five players had reportedly been told they have a future at the club.
Of those, only three started last night — captain Sean Dillon, Simon Murray and Scott Fraser — although it is not yet known if goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima, soon to be out of contract, will be asked to remain at Tannadice.
Paul Paton, having savaged his team-mates in the morning’s newspapers, was nowhere to be seen in a United travelling party of only 17 players.
There was no question the majority had a point to prove after the club’s relegation, not least with their own futures up in the air.
Loan pair Kyle Knoyle and Billy Mckay, leading the line against his former employers, were a case in point — as was Ofere. Of the rest of the starters, Paul Dixon and Mark Durnan, though still signed up beyond the summer, have been told they can leave. John Rankin and Morris, with deals expiring shortly, were very much in the shop window.
Inverness, in fine form after three wins and a draw in their last four matches, would have been looking to capitalise on the away team’s disarray. However, they got off to the worst possible start.
After only 30 seconds, Ofere showed United were up for the fight with a low, stinging strike turned away for a corner by home keeper Owain Fon Williams.
After a couple of home forays, United roused the band of around 100 travelling fans by taking a sixth-minute lead.
Mckay was sharp enough to nick the ball away from Polworth 30 yards out and Murray needed no second invitation, powering a dipping shot into the right-hand corner of the home keeper’s net.
When the hosts did threaten, their best efforts tended to quickly fizzle out. Carl Tremarco’s lay-off had Miles Storey rippling the side-netting.
The hosts’ best move of the first half came after 27 minutes when Ross Draper won the ball with tenacity in the heart of midfield.
He picked out Andrea MbuyiMutombo, who weighted a pass through to Storey. This time, the striker struck both of his attempts against the chest of Kawashima.
Inverness paid the price when United’s very next attack resulted in a second goal for Murray in first-half stoppage time.
Amid shambolic defending, Caley Thistle scrambled to clear their lines but when Fon Williams’ outstretched arm blocked a closerange Mckay shot, Murray was sharp to follow in and force the ball over the line, although replays showed that the ball did take a touch off Caley Thistle defender Josh Meekings on its way in.
The hosts had an early secondhalf appeal for a penalty when Storey’s strike from the far right seemed to strike Morris’s arm. Referee Don Robertson waved appeals away, however.
Caley Thistle’s day was not improved either when, just 10 minutes after the restart, two exInverness players combined to grab United’s third goal. Mckay’s cutback from the left byeline found Ofere, who stroked the ball home at the back post.
The hosts’ response was almost immediate. Within a minute, they stormed forward and Roberts, wriggling away from his marker, cracked a 20-yard shot low inside Kawashima’s right-hand post.
Kawashima was in the wars soon after, sandwiched painfully between Gary Warren and Morris.
The Inverness cause was now looking far from lost and, when the United keeper fumbled a Roberts strike after 69 minutes, Polworth raced in to apply a close-range finish.
United were in deeper trouble after 77 minutes, with Morris redcarded after taking his second booking for a foul on Roberts.
Kawashima then spared United an equaliser with a fine save from Roberts’ diving header as the hosts mounted an all-out assault in search of an equaliser.
United might have earned a late penalty when Tremarco seemed to bring down Ofere in the box but their claims were rejected.