Fantastic Fyvie is at the double to spark United
DUNDEE UNITED produced their best performance of the season as they clinically took care of one of their closest rivals.
And they had an unlikely goal hero in Fraser Fyvie who scored twice — the opener his first in Tangerine — with Scott McDonald hitting the other as United moved above the Fifers into second place.
It was a strong performance from the Championship favourites and manager Ray McKinnon believes his team is now clicking into place.
He said: ‘I thought the boys were excellent. I think it was the best we have played this season.
‘There was a 15-minute spell in the first half when we were our own worst enemies. But we were mostly in control, limited them to very little and scored good goals.
‘That’s the Fraser Fyvie we all know and it’s taken him until recently to get to his normal level because he had to find his fitness in games. His second goal might be the goal of the season.’
The galling aspect for Dunfermline was that they had been in control and dominant in possession when they fell behind ten minutes before half-time.
The problem was they were unable to create any clear-cut chances despite getting into great areas, invariably as a result of Dean Shiels’ precision passing.
Kallum Higginbotham tried to get on the end of David Hopkirk’s cross on 20 minutes but sliced harmlessly wide. Then eight minutes later, Declan McManus forced Harry Lewis into a save after dispossessing Fyvie on the edge of the box.
United happily let the Pars play in front of them and then the game turned in 35 minutes.
Jamie Robson broke clear on the left, getting in behind Ryan Williamson, and fizzed a cross in that Sean Murdoch was forced to palm away. The ball broke for Fyvie who slotted home from ten yards.
Two minutes before the break United grabbed their second thanks to poor defending from the home side. They failed to deal with James Keatings’ free-kick from the right and McDonald pounced on the loose ball to finish clinically from close range.
The Fifers were stunned and they were fortunate not to concede again in first-half stoppage time.
They were caught on the counterattack as Keatings burst forward to release Paul McMullan who was well challenged by Callum Morris, but the ball diverted into the path of Billy King whose mis-hit shot rattled the crossbar.
United, however, did grab a third and it was a fantastic strike from Fyvie in 59 minutes.
King’s cross deflected into his path and from 22 yards he smashed a right-foot shot into the top corner. The scoreline might have been even worse afterwards as Dunfermline were susceptible to counter-attacks as they tried to get back into the game.
However, it was the Fifers who managed a consolation 13 minutes from time when Callum Smith headed McManus’ deflected cross past Lewis.
Pars boss Allan Johnston said: ‘We have to handle it better when we lose a goal. We were naïve and got caught on the counter-attack.
‘We have to defend better and we need to learn from it but there is a long way to go.
‘We have a lot of young boys and we just hope that they react in the right way, and we start putting results together again.
‘We can play miles better than that. There’s not much between the teams, so we just have to get back to that level of display.’