Dundee Utd 0
St Mirren 1
League (Premier Division)

Match Report

The dearth of goals and points at home continued as we slumped to this latest set-back, which left us without a win in the League at Tannadice since 20th August. Nor can we really have any complaints about the outcome of a match, in which it was only in the last half hour or so before we mounted any serious raids on the Buddies goal.

There was no real sign of the disappointment that was about to ensue in the very early stages. In the tenth minute Mixu Paatelainen headed down and an overhead effort by Kevin Gallacher wasn't too far off the mark. A couple of minutes later Miodrag Krivokapic saw his effort blocked, but a minute later disaster struck. Mark McWalter chased a long through ball, outpaced John Clark before releasing a left foot shot past Billy Thomson. It was a goal that bore more than striking familiarity to the one which cost us the 1987 Scottish Cup final, when lain Ferguson did the damage. Then, as now it was to prove decisive.

In truth we rarely looked like pegging back Saints lead for the remainder of the first half. Indeed, Saints may well have gone further ahead in the 34th minute. Assistant player manager Frank McGarvey sent over a cross from which Paul Chalmers' first timer was brilliantly blocked by Billy Thomson and Dave Bowman came to the rescue again when he blocked Saints' follow up effort.

The early stages of the second half brought littie hope of an equaliser. However, only the woodwork, denied us in the 70th minute. The Saints' defence scrambled the ball clear but only as far as skipper Maurice Malpas, whose fiercely hit drive struck the far post. This signalled some extended pressure around Campbell Money for the first time. Hamish French shot into the side-net. Dave Beaumont sent in a raging shot, which was only fractionally wide of the far post. In the last minute John Clark headed a Kevin Gallacher cross over, but it was all too little, too late to save even a point.