CLINICAL UNITED PUNISH MORTON
THAT deal Ray McKinnon did to get little-known free agent Wato Kuate in at Tannadice until the end of the season? Looking like pretty good business right now.
The 21-year-old Portuguese-Cameroonian midfielder scored an absolute screamer — his first senior goal for any club — to bury Morton in last night’s Play-off quarter-final second leg tie on Tayside.
A Simon Murray goal early in the second half had already set McKinnon’s Dundee United side on their way to comfortable progress at the expense of Jim Duffy’s men.
And then the March signing, who has enjoyed a brief but peripatetic career that has already seen him play in Portugal, Turkey and as part of the Manchester City youth set-up, sealed the deal with a thunderous strike from all of 30 yards.
By the time Blair Spittal added a third for United inside the closing ten minutes, securing a 5-1 aggregate win, McKinnon had already begun to plan for their promotion semi-finals against Falkirk on Tuesday and Friday of next week.
On this evidence, his team are certainly in form. And, judging by last night’s performance, Kuate’s quality and strength might just give United the added oomph to get them over the line — and back into the Premiership.
These play-offs inevitably produce some degree of drama and, with this tie perfectly poised following United’s 2-1 win at Cappielow, most expected a game fraught with tension.
The home side went into the return leg in possession of both an edge and momentum, having come from behind in Greenock.
In a season when Morton have surpassed expectations and surprised many, however, no one in tangerine was dreaming of an easy passage to the semi-finals.
Perhaps the presence of a relatively untried goalkeeper in the away goal might have changed a few perceptions.
First-choice goalie Derek Gaston, at fault for one of the goals in the first leg, had been sick on the eve of the match and again on the bus north — which meant Jamie McGowan stepped in for only his second first-team appearance this season, his fifth overall.
With McGowan having come off the bench to replace Bryn Halliwell in last weekend’s league meeting between the teams, he would at least have been familiar with the hosts. They were the guys looking just a little jittery from the off.
Within 30 seconds, Morton won — and wasted — a corner, while Kudus Oyenuga pulled a right footed shot wide after five minutes having pounced on a misplaced pass by Willo Flood. Oyenuga also made a loud penalty claim after a header that hit Jamie Robson inside the box, although it wasn’t clear exactly which part of the defender’s body was struck.
United’s responses were promising enough, with Stewart Murdoch providing some real impetus in linking with the forward players.
With 20 minutes gone, Murdoch showed excellent strength and composure, rampaging forward from right back.
His low cross was turned goalwards by Murray, whose low shot drifted just beyond the back post — and agonisingly out of reach of Thomas Mikkelsen.
Mikkelsen himself sent a rightfoot strike just over from 20-plus yards, looking for the goal that would allow the home team to breathe just that bit easier.
The danger to United was clear. With ten minutes to go until halftime, Flood made a darting run forward but wasn’t found by a team-mate — and Morton simply launched a ball over the top.
In a straight foot race between Gary Oliver and William Edjenguele, there was only going to be one winner. Which is why the United defender grappled and grabbed the Morton forward, conceding a free-kick — and earning himself a booking — for his act of self-preservation.
The home side hit back almost immediately, Tony Andreu generating real pace on a header to force a fine one-handed save from McGowan.
McKinnon’s men understood how valuable a goal would be. As we all saw when they went one up on the night, 3-1 ahead on aggregate, seven minutes into the second half.
Once again Murdoch was involved, his deep cross from the right finding Morton skipper Thomas O’Ware under pressure from Mikkelsen just outside the six-yard box.
The central defender couldn’t get off the ground, couldn’t do more than nod the ball down to where Murray was waiting to control and finish with style.
Morton weren’t quite dead yet and, had Oyenuga buried his header from an Aidan Nesbitt cross just before the hour mark, they might have shown genuine stirrings.
With 64 minutes on the clock, the visitors were officially done for — thanks to a wondrous strike from United stand-out Kuate.
Striding forward from his deeplying midfield role, he spun in from the right and let fly with a thunderous left-footed drive that left McGowan grasping at the vapour trail.
Signed just weeks ago as a free agent, the man from Cameroon ran the full length of the pitch to celebrate a goal with massive implications for his new employers — and possibly the player himself, currently on a deal only until the end of the season.
Spittal’s killer third, another from a cross, merely emphasised the difference between the sides.
Morton can reflect on a season when they have exceeded expectations in the league and the cups. United march on, their season extended for at least another week.