St Johnstone 1
Dundee Utd 1
League (Premier Division)

Match Report

When Dave Bowman sent a long clearance downfield and Christian Dailly tore in on goal but shot wide within the first minute, another sensational start had looked on the cards. As it turned out we held the ascendancy in those early stages with former Tannadice defender Raymond Stewart, almost conceding a penalty when he pulled down Darren Jackson on the edge of the box.

In fact, Darren almost did score when Billy McKinlay's freekick came over, but his header drifted just wide of the far post. A few minutes later another Billy McKinlay free-kick almost brought us a goal but although his effort took a deflection it sailed into the side-netting. After dictating play in the early stages it came as a major blow to find ourselves trailing after Saints first attack of note. Moore escaped the clutches of Maurice Malpas and headed to the bye-line from where he despatched a cross which Roddie Grant headed in via a post.

Play then became bogged down in midfield until two minutes before the interval. John Clark hoisted a long ball up the middle. Darren Jackson won the race with Inglis for the ball, but was bundled over inside the box which, for the second successive match, saw us gain a penalty and have the opposition reduced to ten men as Inglis was shown a red card for his indiscretion. Darren Jackson equalised from the spot for what was already our fourth penalty award of the new season.

A groin strain prevented Dave Narey starting the second half and that entailed Alex Cleland and Jochem Muller moving back from midfield into the back four with Dave Bowman stepping forward. Despite facing ten man Saints for the whole of the second half, we failed to capitalise on our numerical advantage as Saints fought doggedly and determinedly. Andy McLaren came on to make his Premier Division debut when he replaced Christian Dailly ten minutes from the end. The closest we actually came to scoring was as a result of a cross from the newcomer, but Mixu Paatelainen's header was cleared off the line by Turner. However, ten-man Saints survived to earn a draw and so we lost our 100% Premier record at McDiarmid Park after being the only side to win both games there last term.