Sting in the tail for Jags
Nicky Clark celebrates with his team-mates after he had scored Dundee United’s late winner in their Scottish Cup tie against Partick Thistle at Tannadice. The goal came about after the Jags pair, keeper Kieran Smith and Mouhamed Niang, had collided (inset).
Shankland (78), Clark (90+1) PARTICK THISTLE 1 Tiffoney (25)
An irate Ian McCall slammed Dundee United defender Ryan Edwards
– and compared his “hook” to something out of junior football.
McCall hit out at centre-back Edwards in the wake of Partick Thistle’s heartbreaking injury-time Scottish Cup exit at the hands of Micky Mellon’s Tangerines.
Edwards caused chaos with the 75th-minute flashpoint, which McCall claimed saw the former Blackpool ace throw a punch at Brian Graham to send the Thistle striker spinning to the Tannadice turf.
The Firhill gaffer also insisted Nicky Clark’s winning goal shouldn’t have stood as the United ace had been guilty of a push on Mouhamed Niang.
McCall said: “There is no place for what the big centreback has done – punching somebody on the pitch. We’re really disappointed the referee and the linesman didn’t see it.
“It was like an amateur or junior game – someone just hooking someone – really bizarre. No disrespect to that level of football, but that’s what it was. I’ve been in the game a long time and it’s rare you see something like that.
“Maybe he’ll (Edwards) get punished for it because it’s punished us. We were 1-0 up and if the referee and linesman had seen it, they’d have gone to 10 men. So I’m just really disappointed for all our players and fans who weren’t here.
“I’ve just watched the footage of the winning goal. You’ll see that Nicky Clark has just pushed our guy. It’s a stonewall foul.”
The Jags knew they had nothing to lose and had ex-United ace Graham leading their attack.
Tiffoney had an early chance and fizzed a low shot just past Deniz Mehmet’s right post.
United were finding it hard to get on top of their lowerleague opponents, although Marc McNulty did drill an effort from 22 yards that went just past Kieran Wright’s far post.
But the visitors went ahead in 25 minutes. Jeando Fuch’s header couldn’t clear the danger from a throw-in. The ball spun up in the air and, as the United defence stood still, on-loan Livingston attacker Tiffoney pounced to steer a header back across Mehmet and into the far corner.
United came out with all guns blazing after the break.
Shankland’s shot was blocked by Darren Brownlie, before McNulty’s effort from the rebound was deflected over.
In 54 minutes, Shankland should have equalised from McNulty’s through ball, but his low shot was blocked by Wright’s legs.
All hell broke loose with 15 minutes left when Edwards appeared to strike Graham, but the United stopper stayed on the park.
The Tangerines levelled through Shankland in 78 minutes. Sub Logan Chalmers released Adrian Sporle and his low cross was converted into the far corner by Shankland.
And, in 90 minutes, Clark stepped up to seal the hosts place in the fourth round. A punt forward from Edwards led to a mix-up between Niang and Wright which allowed Clark to nip in and net.
Relived United manager Micky Mellon said: “The important thing is that we got there in the end. If I’m honest, there’s a lot of stuff I can say we want to improve on.
“We lost our way a wee bit in the first half but, in the second half, we came out and for the first 20-25 minutes didn’t get the reward for getting back on track.
“We never lost our composure though. We kept battling away because, at the end of the day, we’re the team expected to go through.”
DUNDEE UNITED: (4-3-1-2) Mehmet 6; Bolton 5, Edwards 5, Reynolds 5, Robson 5 (Chalmers 62, 4); Butcher 6, Fuchs 5 (Clark 67, 5) Harkes 5; Spörle 4, McNulty 5 (Pawlett 86, 2); Shankland 6. Unused subs – Siegrist, Connolly, Appéré, Bisland, Smith, Walker. PARTICK THISTLE:
Partick Thistle (4-4-1-1) Wright 7; McKenna 7, Brownlie 7, Niang 7, Foster 7; Cardle 5 (Murray 57, 2) Docherty 7, Gordon 7, Tiffoney 8 (Penrice 74, 2); Bannigan 7; Graham 7 (Rudden 81, 2). Unused subs – Sneddon, Lyon, Rodden, Williamson, MacIver, Ocholi.