The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
United’s show of character delights Andreu
United talisman happy to subscribe to team mantra in bid to win promotion
Tony Andreu believes Dundee United are showing the mental strength that will be required to successfully negotiate the play-offs.
The Tangerines responded from the body blow of conceding a late equaliser to St Mirren on Saturday by scoring an even later winner.
With Falkirk also getting three points at the weekend, it hasn’t lifted United into second place in the Championship, but it was an encouraging sign all the same, according to their top scorer.
“In the end we showed that we wanted it more,” Andreu said.
“That’s what we need to hang on to for the next games. We fought and we fought.
“It’s not ideal that we had to score three goals to win the game but mentally that will be a good three points for us. It keeps our run going, which is good as well.”
Tony Andreu has admitted that he doesn’t see himself as a midfielder.
But the Dundee United talisman knows that results such as Saturday’s against St Mirren are all that matter now that the stakes are so high for the Tannadice club.
The Tangerines dug out a 3-2 win over relegation-threatened Saints, with top scorer Andreu again dropping back deeper than he would ideally like to be positioned.
The Frenchman still found a way to make his mark on the contest and he is happy to subscribe to the ‘no I in team’ mantra that a manager looks for.
“Honestly,” he said. “It’s not my best position. Personally, you have to take it. You have to try and make the best of it. You can’t just say ‘it’s not my best position so I can’t play’.
“You have to track back defensively, which I tried to do today.
“It’s different but I helped my team with an assist and a goal today.”
Andreu didn’t try to disguise that further forward is where he feels he is best deployed, and he also didn’t try to disguise that United weren’t at their best on Saturday afternoon.
“I think that we didn’t play very well,” the former Hamilton forward said.
“Overall, they played better than us if I’m honest. They kept the ball better. We made it hard when we conceded the late goal and we didn’t defend well enough for it. We showed a great response though. And we won. In the end we showed that we wanted it more. That’s what we need to hang on to for the next games. We fought and we fought.
“It’s not ideal that we had to score three goals to win the game but mentally that will be a good three points for us. It keeps our run going, which is good as well.”
There was plenty of controversy in this contest, with Saints particularly aggrieved that United’s early opening goal was allowed to stand.
Gary MacKenzie was caught just above the waist by Thomas Mikkelsen – he showed us his war wound for the avoidance of doubt – but referee Craig Charleston saw nothing wrong in the challenge and the big striker lashed the ball home with as sweet a left foot as you could wish to see.
MacKenzie said: “I didn’t actually know it was a goal. I was lying on the deck and I thought the noise was for the foul not being given. A wee bit of red mist came down for five minutes about how that could be allowed to stand. It was disbelief it wasn’t a foul. The fella himself (Mikkelsen) said it was a foul.”
United did very little else in the remainder of the first half and MacKenzie’s headed equaliser was deserved when it came shortly before the break.
Charleston then had another big intervention – this time correctly to my eye – when he penalised keeper Billy O’Brien for picking up a Stephen McGinn pass all the way back from the centre circle.
You often see a free-kick in the box being smothered by bodies or skied over the bar due to the closeness to goal. That doesn’t factor in a player of the quality of Tony Andreu, though. He’s just the man you would want in that type of situation and drilled the ball under the wall.
He said: “With so many people in the wall you know it can take a deflection. In this case, it didn’t need one. It worked out perfectly. I knew how I wanted to take it. It could have been the winner but we made it difficult for ourselves again.” Indeed they did. Saints levelled for the second time when substitute Jason Todd made space for himself in the box after Saints had been livelier than United in the aftermath of a blocked McGinn shot.
There was another twist left, though. In the last minute Blair Spittal slotted a 20-yarder beyond the reach of O’Brien and into the keeper’s bottom right hand corner.
Andreu, who now has 18 for the season, is happy to see the United goals being spread around.
“There have been different scorers in the last few games,” he said.
“Blair scored today and so did Thomas. It’s good to have more threats. For a couple of months I think it was either Simon or me. That’s a very good thing for us going into the play-offs.”
For manager Ray McKinnon there was plenty to like in what he saw.
“After conceding two equalisers we showed an absolutely fantastic attitude to win the game,” he said.
“I thought the boys did well. They’ve battled against a good St Mirren side who are also fighting for points.
“We’d like to have a lot more players available at the moment but credit to the guys. I thought Willo Flood was excellent. He drove the team on. We’re going to need that desire and enthusiasm from our key players through to the end of the season.”