It’s elementary for Watson and United
UNITED turned Saints’ dream start to the season into a nightmare.
The classy Tangerines notched four without reply to kill off the Perth side’s best start to a League campaign since the 1930s.
And in the end, it was the least Jackie McNamara’s side deserved.
For the first time this season, United clicked going forward, and against Saints’ uncharacteristically reeling rear guard, they took full advantage.
The Tangerines played some impressive stuff, but the truth is, Tommy Wright’s side crumbled after the impressive David Goodwillie notched a second.
They looked a shadow of the team that had only conceded two goals in 660 minutes of competitive football before arriving at Tannadice.
And the postmortem that will surely follow at McDiarmid Park is sure to last longer than the three minutes it took United to draw blood yesterday.
Just three minutes had passed when Keith Watson, fed by the lively Ryan Dow, cut inside from the right and unleashed a vicious drive from 16 yards.
A decisive deflection off the unfortunate Paddy Cregg ensured Watson’s effort hit the net, but Saints keeper Stevie Banks would probably have been beaten anyway.
Initially at least, Tommy Wright’s side took falling behind in their stride.
The Perth men dominated and should have equalised through a Stevie May header five minutes later. But what United lacked in terms of possession, they made up for with ruthlessness going forward.
That’s something McNamara’s side hadn’t shown until yesterday – with Goodwillie a particular culprit.
Since returning on loan from Blackburn he’s looked uncharacteristically wasteful in front of goal.
That changed after 25 minutes against Saints, when Goodie grabbed the first goal of his second spell in tangerine, profiting from messy defending to head home unchallenged from six yards out. Mackay-Steven added a third five minutes before the break when veteran stopper Banks, in for the injured Alan Mannus, was slow to meet an Andrew Robertson through ball. Like the jubilant United fans, Blackburn’s watching scout couldn’t fail to have been impressed. And if he’d missed it, he was given another chance to see United’s wing king in full flight after the interval.
Again Dow was involved, firing a clever ball out to MackaySteven on the right.
The winger’s cross was perfect for the lurking Stuart Armstrong, whose miskick was enough to beat Banks and make it 4-0.
Saints were well beaten by that point, but still managed to carve out the odd chance, but Nigel Hasselbaink and Steven MacLean both contrived to miss when it seemed easier to score.
Their efforts summed up Saints – not good enough.
But while the mood at McDiarmid may have turned sour, for McNamara and Dundee United, the future suddenly looks bright.