Dundee Utd 2
Motherwell 2
League (Premier Division)

Match Report

Naturally, the main interest centred round the first appearance of Argentinian striker Victor Ferreyra. His introduction to Scottish Football was typical. In the first minute he controlled the ball on his chest, only to be immediately bundled off the ball by a defender. However, it was Duncan Ferguson who was held down by Chris McCart to earn us the first of two penalties during the match. Duncan took the kick himself, but unfortunately screwed his shot well wide of the post. United fans first sight of Victor Ferreyra in real action saw the Argentinian speed past Philliben only to be brought down by Billy Thomson who protested his innocence too strongly to the referee and was booked. This time skipper Maurice Malpas made no mistake from the spot to score his first goal of the season. Motherwell, however, hit us on the break in the 32nd minute when Dolan's through ball split the defence and Ian Angus ran on to shoot low past Alan Main. Their equality was short-lived, however, because we went back into the lead in the 39th minute. John Clark's free-kick was controlled by Ferreyra but he was tackled and the ball broke to Gary Bollan who immediately fired the ball past Billy Thomson for his first goal for the club.

There is no doubt that if the first-half belonged to us, then the visitors dominated the second period. We did have our great chance to seal victory when Duncan Ferguson broke clear only for Billy Thomson to block his shot. However, we couldn't quibble when Motherwell did equalise late on through a Jamie Dolan header from a Cooper cross because the same Motherwell player had blazed a Joe McLeod cross over from close in only minutes earlier. Despite the second half rally, it is still over 15 years since Motherwell last tasted victory at Tannadice.