Alloa Match Report

Dundee United progress into the Fifth Round of the William Hill Scottish Cup with goals from Mark Durnan and Emil Lyng.

By Alasdair Marnoch

After another busy week in the transfer window, United travelled south to Alloa for their Fourth Round Scottish Cup tie against League 1 Alloa Athletic. Thomas Mikkelsen kicked off his second spell at United in the starting eleven, with new signing Idris Kadded making his debut in the second half.  

First Half: United could have been a goal down within the first minute after Kirkpatrick misjudged a half volley from inside the six yard box, sending the ball sky high and out for the first corner of the game. 

Alloa kept surging forward in waves, frequently getting the ball into the box and putting United’s defence under pressure. United were slow to make their presence known, but after some nice passing play in the twentieth minute Stanton was unlucky to curl his shot wide. United were awarded a free kick two minutes later, but Slater struggled to trouble the keeper with his weak effort going straight into his arms.  

After a quiet ten minutes Robson crossed the ball into Mikkelsen who took down Parry with a strong challenge leaving him on the ground and requiring medical attention. The referee awarded the home side a free kick and Parry recovered quickly leaving him able to continue for the rest of the match. 

After some solid football from United at the end of the first half, United earned themselves a corner in the 44th minute. Slater stood over the ball and drilled it into the six-yard box allowing Mark Durnan to head it in from close range. United ended the first half 1-0, a score which many Alloa fans would not feel was a fair representation of how the home side were playing.   

Second Half: Alloa came out in the second half hungry to keep their Scottish Cup run alive with an early free kick from a dangerous position. The United defence dealt with the set piece sending it out for a corner, which came to nothing. 

Ten minutes into the first half, Scott McDonald made his way past Alloa’s defence and into the 6 yard box forcing Parry to pull off an excellent save from close range. 

United doubled their lead in the 63rd minute, with Stanton setting up Emile Lyng, allowing him to fire the ball into the top right corner and bag his first goal in a United shirt. 

Alloa attempted to set themselves up for a comeback in the 67th minute after a dangerous cross from Taggart, but Renton couldn’t quite meet the ball and it went out for a goal kick. United came close just minutes later after Slater set Quinn up for a volley inside the box, only to be deflected by the Alloa defence and sent out for another corner. 

Within minutes of being brought on, French amateur Idris Kadded was keen to make an early impression, with a powerful shot clattering off the bar after some nice build up play from United. 

Summary: United started the game shakily and were lucky not concede in the early minutes of the game. However, as the game moved on United grew stronger as confidence developed and made their way into the fifth round of the Scottish Cup with a comfortable 2-0 win.  

Man of the Match: Lyng led United’s strike force well and grabbed the second goal of the game.

Alloa Athletic: Parry, Taggart, Crane, Graham, McCart, Fleming (Robertson, 67’), Cawley, Hetherington, Renton (Malcolm, 70’), Kirkpatrick, Flannigan 

Subs not used: McKeown, Martin, Hoggan, Wilson 

Dundee United: Lewis, Durnan, Quinn, McDonald, King (Mason 85’), Stanton, Mikkelsen (Kadded, 79’), Slater (Murdoch 83’), Flood, Robson, Lyng 

Subs not used: McMullan, Allardice, Deniz 

Referee: Craig Charleston 

Attendance: 1615