Neilson’s men don’t miss the goal machine
ROBBIE NEILSON watched his Dundee United side sweep past Queen of the South without star striker Lawrence Shankland — then insisted it proves they aren’t just a one-man team.
United moved nine points ahead of second-placed Ayr United and 12 clear of city rivals Dundee with this latest Tannadice triumph to maintain their 100-per-cent home record.
Neilson’s men chalked up their fifth straight league clean sheet win thanks to first-half goals from Paul McMullan and Nicky Clark, before Sam Stanton killed the contest early in the second-half against Allan Johnston’s lacklustre visitors.
And gaffer Neilson hailed his titlechasing troops, who were minus goal machine Shankland as he was in Cyprus with Scotland for their European 2020 Championship qualifying match.
‘I think today was important for everyone,’ said the United boss.
‘Everyone is talking about Lawrence because he’s scored a lot of the goals.
‘Obviously, we rely heavily on him but today showed we’ve got other guys who can step up as well when he’s not there.
‘It was just a good overall performance. Another clean sheet is good as well. Touch wood we can continue this.’
Ian Harkes started the move for the opener on 16 minutes by feeding Louis Appere who, in turn, set up McMullan who showed his class by guiding a low 20-yard effort into the net outwith the reach of visiting goalkeeper Robby McCrorie.
Clark made no mistake in making it two just a minute before the interval. McMullan’s defence-splitting pass had set him free and the ex-Rangers striker coolly slid the ball into the net from 12 yards.
Stanton then pounced on some slackness within the home defence and skipped past a couple of challenges before steering his left-foot shot past McCrorie.
Queens manager Johnston said: ‘We’re really frustrated with the sloppiness of the goals we lost.’