The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
‘Jekyll and Hyde’ United can catch Hibs: Dixon
‘Back to the drawing board’ says United defender after failure at Falkirk
Paul Dixon admits the miserable display by “Jekyll and Hyde” Dundee United against Falkirk was unacceptable – but is adamant it was not the death knell for their Championship title hopes.
With Hibernian in Scottish Cup action against Hearts, United had the chance to cut the gap at the summit to just three points.
Instead, the Tangerines folded during a defensively dismal showing, with goals from John Baird, Aaron Muirhead and James Craigen condemning them to a 3-0 defeat.
Ray McKinnon’s side have only tasted victory once in their last seven games – a 3-0 win over Raith Rovers – during an alarming malaise that has seen Falkirk and Morton grow increasingly large in the rear-view mirror.
“It wasn’t good enough, pure and simple. It was a Jekyll and Hyde performance compared to the Raith Rovers match and it wasn’t acceptable,” Dixon said.
“We should have played a lot better than we did on Saturday to try and put pressure on Hibs. We missed a great opportunity to do that.
“We need to learn from our mistakes, go back to the drawing board and analyse it.
“But we don’t look down, we look forward and we will carry on doing that until the end of the season, trying to catch Hibs. I don’t see why we can’t catch them.”
The signs were not good for the visitors before a ball was even kicked, with first-choice goalkeeper Cammy Bell failing to recover from a thigh strain in time for kick-off.
He is expected to return for next weekend’s Irn-Bru Cup semi-final against Queen of the South, but Luis Zwick was drafted in to replace Bell.
With William Edjenguélé already absent through suspension, McKinnon’s back-line was considerably weaker than he would have liked.
It took just six minutes for Falkirk to carve open their visitors.
Mark Durnan’s attempt to block a hopeful pass from Myles Hippolyte only succeeded in diverting the ball into the path of former United striker Lee Miller.
The experienced frontman showed composure and class in the box to pick out Baird, allowing the striker to head home his 10th goal of the season.
That was a sign of things to come, with United consistently all at sea from deliveries into the box.
Only Zwick stopped Falkirk doubling their advantage, with the sprightly German making a super save to deny an unmarked Peter Grant after the defender had met a Craigen cross.
Ray McKinnon would later say “we worked all week on stopping crosses into the box”. It did not show. In a rare moment of threat from the men in tangerine, Thomas Mikkelsen struck the bar with a header after meeting a Tony Andreu cross.
That would be the highlight for the 879 travelling supporters.
After 39 minutes, Baird fell to the turf with a hamstring strain which should, in theory, have provided respite for United.
Instead, replacement Nathan Austin provided the second goal.
“He’s like Bambi on ice,” Peter Houston joked after the match.
Austin galloped on to a through-ball in the second half after beating a ragged offside line.
He was hauled down by Zwick inside the box.
Without Bell’s spot-kick heroics to bail United out, Muirhead slotted home from the penalty spot.
Falkirk added gloss to the scoreline on the hour-mark with a defensive horror-show from the Terrors.
Luke Leahy had the freedom of the Falkirk Stadium to whip in a cross from the left and – with Zwick primed to collect – Durnan instead intervened, and only succeeded in scuffing the ball straight to the feet of Craigen, who tapped into the net from six yards. Austin saw a goal disallowed. Grant came close again in a gutless finale from United in front of a rapidly emptying away section.
“We should have played a lot better than we did on Saturday to try and put pressure on Hibs. PAUL DIXON