Dundee Utd0–4Inverness CT

Peter Houston decided to stick by his men that lost narrowly to AEK Athens on Thursday and named an unchanged side to face Inverness. The only change in the personnel was Barry Douglas replacing Johnny Russell on the bench. Afer losing out to Celtic last weekend Terry Butcher only made one change to his side with former United man David Proctor replacing Ross Tokely in defence.

United looked shaky from the kick off and it was the visitors who looked the more confident and with six minutes on the clock a slack pass intercepted by Rooney and the Inverness frontman shot just wide from the edge of the penalty area. Four minutes later United made their first chance of the afternoon when Goodwillie found space in the box but his left foot shot failed to trouble Esson. Prince Buaben then tried his luck from distance but his effort deflected off Munro and was cleared. Gomis then played a fine pass in to the path of Robertson who was well tackled by Munro this time resulting in a United corner. Conway’s resulting corner kick was then headed off the goalline by McCann. Just before the half hour mark the visitors had the best chance of the afternoon so far. Rooney collected the ball on the left and beat Dixon and with only the goalkeeper to beat he was undone by a fine stop from Pernis. A minute later it was United who went close when a long throw from Dixon found the head of Daly and United’s skipper powered in a header that just went by the left hand post. With 32 minutes gone the visitors broke the deadlock. Firstly Hayes broke down the right and he laid off a pass to Duncan who had his shot blocked by Robertson however play continued and the vistors won a corner kick. Hayes this time took the kick and despite Watson clearing, the ball landed at the feet of Kevin McCann and from 25 yards he smashed an unstoppable shot into the top corner of the net. United were now on the back foot and shortly after the opener they almost fell two behind when Odhiambo beat Kenneth for pace but with only the keeper to beat United’s Scottish international defender managed to back track and make a fine saving tackle.

Within three minutes of the restart Caley should really have doubled their lead. McCann spotted Rooney make a fine run into the United box and an inch perfect pass was then flicked over Pernis only for the ball to narrowly miss the far corner of the net. Two minutes later though they did double their lead. Odhiambo raced through and should probably have shot himself however with the United defence in a complete mess he unselfishly squared the ball to Adam Rooney who calmly slotted the ball past Pernis. Three minutes later the match was all but over. McCann won a throw on the right hand side and he quickly found Russell Duncan who sent a high, looping shot over the head of Pernis to make it 3-0. Not surprisingly United then made two changes with Danny Cadamarteri and debutant Barry Douglas replacing Conway and Dixon. Douglas was quickly involved when after Daly was fouled he slammed a free kick off the visitors defensive wall, the ball fell to Sean Dillon but the Irishman sent his effort wide of target. Former United man Odhiambo caused the home defence problems all afternoon and with twenty minutes left he again took advantage of a defensive mix up but this time he fired into the side netting. With time against them United had efforts from Goodwillie and Buaben but it was no surprise when the visitors grabbed a fourth. The ball once again broke to Rooney in the United penalty area and before he could shoot he was pulled back by Kenneth and the referee had no hesitation in awarding a spot kick. Adam Rooney himself stood up and notched his second and Caley’s fourth of the afternnon. With four minutes left United’s afternoon was summed up when Cadamarteri crossed to Buaben who hit a right foot shot that came back off the post.