Terrors dominate but decider waits until stoppage time
ST MIRREN 1 Henderson (3) DUNDEE UNITED 2 Levitt (57), Mcnulty (90+6)
A scrappy, stoppage-time winner from Marc Mcnulty could yet prove to be priceless for United.
The 29-year-old was in the right place at the right time to force the ball home from point-blank range after Nicky Clark had hit the bar.
In fairness, it would have been a travesty if the Tangerines hadn’t won. They fell behind early on but went on to dominate for threequarters of this contest, hitting the woodwork three times.
Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson, to his credit, made no attempt to claim that his side had been robbed by the late goal.
“I didn’t think we deserved anything,” he said. “We started brilliantly with a superb strike. I thought Jay Henderson and Connor Ronan were the only bright sparks that we had.
“We didn’t pass the ball well enough in the second half when United started turning us. We didn’t defend well enough and we were taking touches when we shouldn’t have. There’s no point dressing it up in any other shape or form.”
It didn’t take long for the home side to get their noses in front. There were less than three minutes on the clock when Ronan supplied Henderson 30 yards out.
He hardly qualified for an assist, though, because the winger still had plenty to do but he displayed a change of pace to surge past Scott Mcmann and, from 25 yards, unleashed a shot which swerved behind Benjamin Siegrist’s outstretched hand and dipped just under the crossbar.
It was only his second senior goal (his first came in a 2-1 win over the same opponents at Tannadice in January) and it was a fitting early birthday present to himself for the boy who turns 21 today.
Mcmann was having a hard time containing him and he was deservedly booked in the 18th minute for scything him down as he went beyond him again.
Henderson was in the starting XI only because of an injury to Northern Ireland winger Jordan Jones but his form meant that the former Rangers star wasn’t missed.
It took United until midway through the opening half to threaten. Hitting the hosts on the counter, Miller Thomson intercepted a stray pass from Alan Power and released Mcnulty.
The former Scotland striker was left one-on-one with Jak Alnwick but his finish lacked conviction. United fluffed their lines again in the 26th minute. On this occasion Ilmari Niskanen was played in by Mcnulty but the Finnish winger’s shot was more like a passback and the advancing Alnwick hoofed the ball to safety.
United manager Tam Courts rang the changes at the interval, sending on Nicky Clark and Ross Graham for Miller Thomson and Mcmann respectively in an attempt to remain relevant in the race for a top-six place.
The visitors should have equalised six minutes after the restart when Saints – whose defending was hit and miss all afternoon – failed to clear their lines at a corner, leaving Mcnulty with the chance to drill the ball home from eight yards.
Unfortunately for the fans behind Alnwick’s goal, he didn’t put his laces through it and his weak attempt was cleared off the line by Charles Dunne.
However, the goal United’s pressure merited eventually arrived when a clearance from Power was collected by Dylan Levitt and the Wales midfielder fired high behind Alnwick from the 18-yard box.
Alnwick’s afternoon took a turn for the worse in the final minute of regulation time when he was shown a straight red card for leaving his area to clean out Tony Watt.