St Johnstone1–1Dundee Utd

For the first Tayside derby of the season, Manager Ivan Golac fielded Andy McLaren to give the youngster his first starting place since the Scottish Cup tie with Meadowbank Thistle. The Under-21 Internationalist was undoubtedly the star of the show. He sent over a string of inviting crosses in the first half, but unfortunately none of them resulted in a goal, though we came very close on a couple of occasions. In the 27th minute from one of his corners, Brian Welsh's looping header was cleared off the line by Saints skipper, Paul Ramsay. Saints only chance of a first half dominated by United came on the half hour mark when Torfason's knock down from a Curran cross found Moore, but Alan Main beat down his hitch kick. Another Andy McLaren cross following a flowing move from deep inside United's half almost brought United the lead two minutes later. Billy McKinlay's long diagonal ball out to the right was picked up by Andy McLaren and when the cross came over, Paddy Connolly sent in a glancing header which Rhodes saved one-handed in spectacular fashion.

The second half opened in a flurry of activity at both ends. Rhodes dived to hold a fierce first time drive by Dave Bowman from 25 yards and when play switched quickly to the other end, Alan Main emulated Rhodes first half save by tipping over a Paul wright shot on the turn. Shortly after Roy McBain had come on to replace Chris Myers to make his first team debut, United, after so much early dominance, were shocked as Saints stole into the lead. A Curran cross from the right was headed in by the diving Gunni Torfason from six yards. The Tangerines reply was a John Clark header which slipped out of Rhodes arms and appeared to momentarily hover on top of the bar before going behind for a corner. This derby had really come alive now. Paddy Connolly saw his shot drift fractionally wide after he ran on to a Christian Dailly knock down and Brian Welsh had yet another header cleared off the line by Ramsay with Paddy Connolly having his shot from the rebound blocked. We had a second penalty claim turned down when Deas blocked a Christian Dailly header, but got the equaliser we deserved 12 minutes from the end. Connolly was brought down outside the box and Billy McKinlay stepped up to hit a viciously curling free kick past the unsighted Rhodes at his near post.