Dundee Utd 5
Airdrie 0
League (Division One)

Match Report

Coming off their win over Derby County, manager Jerry Kerr looked to hit the ground running with another win at Tannadice against Airdrieonians. The same United eleven was announced, while Alan Gordon replaced Walter Smith as the named substitute.

First on the attack, United tested Roddie McKenzie in the Airdrie goal when Sandy White sent Tommy Traynor in for a shot on goal. It took until just the tenth minute for United to take the lead. Alex Reid started a move in midfield, passing to Traynor on the right wing. Andy Rolland picked the ball up further up the field who cut the ball back for Jackie Copland to turn the ball into the net. Within two minutes, United doubled their lead through Copland again, the United man poking the ball past McKenzie from an Alan Devlin square ball. The roles were reversed when Alan Devlin got on the scoresheet himself on 23 minutes, pushing a Copland overhead kick into the net from close in. A fourth goal arrived just a couple of minutes after that and it was Jackie Copland again for the hat-trick, adding the final touch after Sandy White had beaten three Airdrie men on the way to lashing the ball off the crossbar into Copland's path.

Any hopes the Broomfield men had of pulling a goal back in the second half ended up fruitless. The best chance they had fell to Drew Jarvie who shot over the bar. At the other end, United came close to an early second half goal through Alex Reid, when he also sent a shot over. United rounded off their high scoring afternoon with a fifth soon enough though, Andy Rolland the scorer with a quarter hour remaining. From start to finish, the performance was a pleasing one. By full time, the win had been capped off with a clean sheet, the Tangerines' first of the season in all competitions.