St Mirren 2 Dundee United 0

Things weren’t to be for United tonight as conceding two second half goals saw United leave the Paisley 2021 Stadium empty handed.

By Alasdair Marnoch

First Half: United started positively, aiming to carry over their momentum from previous fixtures and seemed to be in control for the first few minutes. But it was St Mirren who were first to trouble the opposition’s keeper in the tenth minute with a low shot that made its way through United’s defence and into the safe hands of Harry Lewis. However United were quick to counter, with an attack lead by Scott Fraser resulting in United’s first corner of the game.

The corner was dealt with by the Buddies' defence but United surged forward and after a scramble in the box, a late tackle on Mark Durnan lead to United being awarded an early penalty. McMullan stood over the ball, but the keeper guessed correctly and kept the score blank. 

This spurred the home team and their support on as they started to make their presence known. Saints made use of some training ground tactics from a corner in the seventeenth minute but these efforts were met to no avail as their shot was fired over the bar and into the United end. 

The pressure was growing at the Paisley 2021 Stadium with both teams putting in strong tackles with Scott McDonald being shown a yellow card in the process. 

Second Half: The second half began with United playing towards their impressive 1246 strong travelling support. Keen to use this to their advantage captain Willo Flood attempted to play the ball into the box to McMullan, but a tightly packed box made it difficult for United to convert their opportunity.   

Saints gave themselves an opportunity in the 49th minute but their shot was blocked by Flood who consequentially injured himself. Things didn’t look good for Flood as he was being looked at by the physio on the sidelines, but he made his way back onto the pitch limping heavily. 

The home side were first to open the score-line with center forward Lewis Morgan making his way past Willo Flood outside the box and launching the ball into the back of the net. Csaba Laszlo was then forced to make his first substitution, replacing Flood with youngster Matty Smith and soon after McMullan with Keatings. 

Durnan, being the third United played to see yellow, gave Saints a free kick 40 yards out on the left wing. Ian McShane played the free kick short to Lewis Morgan allowing him to bag his second goal of the game.   

Summary: United seemed to struggle to create opportunities for themselves with only one shot on target throughout the game. United played some positive football in the first half, but the home side were the stronger team in the second half, and the score backed that up with the Buddies winning 2-0. 

Man of the Match: Sam Stanton put in some good tackles throughout the game. 

St Mirren: Samson, Demetriou, McGinn (C), Magennis, Morgan (Okeefe, 90’), Smith, Baird, McShane, Mullen (Sutton, 87’), Davis, Smith (Macpherson, 89’) 

Subs not used: Stewart, Buchanan, Mackenzie, Duffy 

Dundee United: Lewis, Scobbie, Durnan, Quinn, McMullan (Keatings, 70’), McDonald, Fraser (Allardice, 75’), King, Stanton, Flood, (Smith, 63’), Robson

Subs not used: Appere, Chalmers, Ingles, Deniz 

Referee: Don Robertson 

Attendance: 6214