LOGAN MAKES HIS RUN
United’s young winger Chalmers is flying under new boss Mellon
SOME acknowledgements of his performance were easier for Logan Chalmers to accept than others.
Micky Mellon might have been deploying a degree of managerial overstatement when he suggested you would struggle to see a better display from a young Scottish player. Even so, fulsome praise for Chalmers was very much merited.
Fizzing with energy every time he took possession, the 20-year-old winger showed bravery in his play and a relentless intent to influence the game. He was crucial to Dundee United ending a run of three successive defeats with their first home win of the season.
What felt like a breakthrough afternoon was also marked in a less pleasant way. This ‘welcome to the Premiership’ message was evident from the strapping to his left ankle when he spoke to journalists after full-time.
It had been delivered by the far more experienced figure of Richard Tait. Exasperated by the 2-0 deficit, the St Mirren full-back’s lunge on Chalmers near the corner flag earned him a red card from referee Colin Steven with a shade over half an hour remaining.
Asked if that kind of treatment could almost be deemed as confirmation that he was playing well, Chalmers smiled: ‘It’s probably a bit of frustration because he maybe couldn’t get the ball off me. But, nah, it was a bad tackle, he got a red card and it put us more in the driving seat.
‘It was definitely a red. I managed to get up and keep playing. I’m a little bit bruised and strapped up as a precaution, but I know I’ll be fine to get back into training.’
The native Dundonian is clearly not the type to be intimidated by the rough and tumble of the big league. That assurance is another asset.
Farmed out on loan to Arbroath for the latter part of last season, Chalmers had yet to nail down regular involvement at Tannadice prior to Mellon’s arrival. Five starts and three substitute appearances from the first eight Premiership games show how highly the new United manager rates him.
‘The gaffer’s always told me that if I put the work in, my quality will show through and I felt like this was the best I’ve played since I came into the side,’ admitted Chalmers.
‘It’s good to hear (the praise from Mellon), but I just need to keep taking it game by game to make sure he keeps that faith in me.
‘I probably didn’t expect to have been involved as much as this, but I seemed to hit the ground running when the new manager came in and for me as well as some of the other young boys it’s been a fresh start. ‘Last season I went out on loan to Arbroath, but didn’t play much, which wasn’t what I hoped for. But it was an experience going to a part-time team and one that should make you more mature.
‘This is probably one of the best clubs in Scotland for bringing through young players, so we’re in the right place if we keep working hard.’
That last point is critical. Chalmers recognises the onus has been on him to prove he could offer graft to match his craft.
On Saturday, 81 minutes of exertion up and down the right flank answered all of Mellon’s orders
‘He demands a lot of hard work, which is a side of my game that people maybe doubted I had in me,’ said Chalmers.
‘At youth level I didn’t do the amount of tracking back required of me, but I now I know that side of it comes before skill.’
Chalmers was not actually responsible for the finest moment of skill United produced.
For that, he had to defer to Lawrence Shankland and the quite brilliant way the Scotland striker conjured up his first Premiership goal on his first start since the opening day.
Its excellence was matched by its importance. United were second best for most of the opening period.
Despite Mellon’s imploring cries of ‘find your shape’, St Mirren looked the better set-up side.
Had Lee Erwin been able to take either of the two chances presented to him, the story of this game may well have been different.
But he couldn’t. And with 33 minutes gone, Shankland intervened in spectacular fashion.
He wasn’t facing goal when a Chalmers corner was half cleared to the edge of the area, yet his mind had already pictured the outcome.
Swivelling acrobatically as the ball dropped, he connected perfectly with a right-foot shot hooked beyond Zdenek Zlamal.
United went on to dominate the start of the second half.
Nicky Clark struck a post and Adrian Sporle was denied by Zlamal before the lead was doubled on 52 minutes.
Making the final appearance of his emergency loan from Hearts, Zlamal thwarted Ian Harkes and Shankland in quick succession yet still ended up conceding when the ball broke back for Sporle to calmly finish.
Substitute Dylan Connolly did pull a goal back for the ten men — capitalising on slack defending from Mark Reynolds.
But it was United who had the better opportunities to score again in the closing stages.
While they are feeling much better about themselves, a fourth straight defeat for St Mirren gives Jim Goodwin more thinking to do before Kilmarnock visit on Saturday.
DUNDEE UNITED (4-2-3-1): Siegrist 6; Bolton 7, Edwards 6, Reynolds 5, Robson 7; Harkes 7, Butcher 6; Chalmers 8 (Pawlett 81), Clark 6 (Glass 83), Sporle 7; Shankland 7. Subs not used: Deniz, Powers, McMullan, Smith, Freeman, Appere, Neilson. Booked: Butcher, Glass, Pawlett ST MIRREN (4-4-2): Zlamal 7; Fraser 6, McCarthy 6, Shaughnessy 6, Tait 4; McAllister 6 (Connolly 56), Erhahon 6 (Morias 85), Foley 6, McGrath 6 (Durmus 56); Erwin 6, Obika 6 (MacPherson 65). Subs not used: Sheron, Urminsky, Jamieson. Booked: McAllister. Sent off: Tait. Referee: Colin Steven.