Goodwin agony at injury hell
Jim Goodwin revealed Peter Pawlett was close to tears after becoming the latest on Dundee United’s growing injury list.
The Terrors boss was disappointed to lose 2- 0 against Rangers at Ibrox but more concerned with another casualty.
Goodwin is missing key men like Charlie Mulgrew, Liam Smith, Dylan Levitt and Glen Middleton.
And Pawlet t , who recently returned to the United line-up, was forced off after just 22 minutes with a hamstring problem.
Gaffer Goodwin says he needs their luck to change as they battle for their Premiership survival.
He said: “We haven’t been carrying a great deal of luck. I don’t like talking about injuries because people assume you are making excuses.
“But we have a lot of key players out. Now you can add Pawlett to that group of players needing rehab.
“It is a difficult challenge for us missing so many influential players.
“It’s unfortunate for Pete – he was out with an injury and worked hard to get fit. It looks like a recurrence of the same injury.
“The wee man is gutted. He looked close to tears when he came off.
“He’s an important player for this team. To lose him is disappointing but it is too early to say how long he’ll be out.”
Goodwin’s side were comfortably beaten at Ibrox, with Malik Tillman grabbing a brace for Gers.
The result leaves them rooted to the bottom of the Premiership table, two points behind Ross County.
But Goodwin said: He said: “It’s frustrating – it didn’t pan out how we’d have liked.
“I’ve seen a lot of positives though. And I see a team that have not thrown in the towel.”
run out of ideas pretty quickly.
That frustrated the punters who were looking for a spark.
Cantwell had a shot parried by Birighitti and Tillman looked for a penalty as he latched on to the rebound – but ref Don Robertson rightly waved away half-hearted appeals.
United were offering very little. But McGregor – who had been a spectator on his landmark game – got a bit of a fright when Craig Sibbald rifled a left-foot shot from distance just over.
The home side desperately needed a goal.
And their two most inventive players conjured one up.
Connor Goldson fizzed a ball into Cantwell’s feet on the edge of the box and somehow he managed to stab a bril liant pass round the corner to the on-rushing Tillman. The USA international took a touch before firing past Birighitti for 1- 0.
It was a vital opener and all down to a superb piece of improvisation from Cantwell.
That took a bit of pressure off. And it could have been 2- 0 before half-time.
Kent unleashed a left-foot shot that beat the Aussie keeper but crashed off the bar.
As has so often been the case this season already under Beale, his players started the second period with far more purpose.
And 55 minutes in, they had doubled their lead.
Tavernier hit Kent with a pass who touched it to Tillman.
As Ryan Edwards stood off him in the box, he bided his time and waited for the right moment to drill an effort at goal. Birighitti really should have done better but he couldn’t stop it and Tillman had his brace.
Goodwin could only shake his head on the touchline, probably pondering how he’ll find a new number one for next season.
Rangers had the goals’ cushion they needed and, f inally, the visitors had to come out and play a bit more.
Tillman was starting to enjoy himself as he looked for his hat-trick.
He tested Birighitti himself before setting up Tavernier to do likewise.
To be fair to United’s goalie, he was doing his utmost to keep the deficit down.
He denied Morelos with a decent stop as Rangers had to settle for 2- 0 ahead of that trip across the city on Saturday.