Hamilton hit by a sucker punch as United rally
RADOSLAW CIERZNIAK went from midweek villain to weekend hero for Dundee United with a stunning performance which helped his team to their first league win since January 24.
The crucial goal came from Chris Erskine’s second-half strike and Hamilton Accies left Tannadice wondering how they lost this game.
The visitors played very well and deserved a point but the bottom line is the loss means they are now out of the top six. That will be a source of bitter disappointment to everyone at the cub.
It also leaves player-boss Martin Canning still without a victory in 13 attempts.
With Canning suspended, he replaced himself with Ziggy Gordon in central defence — who was solid throughout the 90 minutes — alongside Michael Devlin. Darren Lyon came in at right-back.
United boss Jackie McNamara made five changes to the team that lost 3-1 to Dundee on Wednesday night. Sean Dillon, Jaroslaw Fojut, Calum Butcher, John Rankin and Henri Anier all missed out to make way for John Souttar, Callum Morris, Blair Spittal, Charlie Telfer and Paul Paton, who was handed the captain’s armband.
United were the livelier team in the opening stages and looked more menacing, with Erskine and Aidan Connolly in the mood.
That said, Accies had clearly made it their business to test Tannadice keeper Cierzniak after his howler that allowed Greg Stewart to score the opening goal in the midweek derby clash. Ali Crawford and Dougie Imrie had long-range efforts that the Polish keeper coped with.
Paul Dixon was the Tannadice hero in the 27th minute when he was on the line to clear away Nigel Hasselbaink’s effort from the six-yard line.
Nadir Ciftci came to life for United five minutes before the interval when he drilled in a shot from 16 yards and it produced a good save from Michael McGovern, low down to his right.
Considering the form book for both sides going into this game, McNamara and Canning wouldn’t have been too unhappy at being level at the break.
But they demanded more from their players in a bid to get the three points. For both side, it was vital to win the game to give them a much-needed boost.
Accies took the game to the home team. Stephen Hendrie hit Cierzniak’s left-hand post with a shot and the visitors sensed their opponents were fragile and the home fans restless.
Jason Scotland — a 56th-minute substitute for Hasselbaink — forced Cierzniak into a stunning save to parry away his 16-yard effort. In the 65th minute, Crawford’s 27-yard free-kick battered off the junction of post and crossbar. Crawford and Imrie also had good efforts but were denied by excellent goalkeeping.
And the sucker punch came in the 70th minute. Erskine used his sweet left foot to bend a low shot from 20 yards out away from the reach of McGovern and into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.
It was a superbly taken goal but it was cruel on Accies.
‘I enjoyed my goal and it was important to win because we’ve all been feeling a bit of pressure,’ said Erskine. ‘Credit to Rado Cierzniak as he was superb. We have good team spirit here and we have spoken about sticking together on numerous occasions. This can still be a good season for us if we finish third and get into Europe. We’ve also played in a Cup Final.’
The Lanarkshire club pushed for a leveller but it wasn’t to be. Indeed United sub Mario Bilate should have made it 2-0 on the 90th minute but he couldn’t convert Ciftci’s cross along the six-yard line.
However, this was a precious win for McNamara, who has been feeling the pressure since the finer details of his contractual bonuses were leaked. He will now concentrate on pushing for a top-three finish.
In contrast, Canning will reflect on what has been a miserable time for him since he replaced Alex Neil.
Yet, he can take comfort from this performance as his players were on tip of their game but couldn’t find a way past an inspired goalkeeper.
If the players can produce this kind of performance in their remaining games, then that elusive win for Canning will surely come.