Forfar Athletic 2
Dundee Utd 1
Friendly (Testimonial for Billy Bennett and John Clark)
Forfar Athletic |
2 - 1 |
Dundee Utd |
 |
Friendly (Testimonial for Billy Bennett and John Clark) |
 |
| Goalscorers | |
|
Billy Gallacher (11) John Clark (75) |
John Holt (86) |
| Team Managers | |
| Doug Houston |
Jim McLean |
| Starting Eleven | |
|
Stewart Kennedy Billy Bennett Ray Lorimer Ken Brown Alex Brash Ian McPhee Gordon Leitch Ray Farningham John Clark Billy Gallacher Rob Cormack |
Hamish McAlpine Maurice Malpas Richard Gough Paul Hegarty Dave Narey John Holt Derek Stark Alex Taylor Ralph Milne Billy Kirkwood Davie Dodds |
| Bench | |
|
Kenny MacDonald Rab Morris Mike Turnbull Archie Bell Phil Smith |
John Gardiner Dave Beaumont Gary McGinnis Ian Britton Derek Murray Iain Phillip John Reilly |
| Substitutions | |
|
Kenny MacDonald for Ray Lorimer (46) Rab Morris for Ken Brown (46) Mike Turnbull for Billy Gallacher (46) Archie Bell for Rob Cormack (72) Phil Smith for Billy Bennett (79) |
John Reilly for Billy Kirkwood (46) Derek Murray for Dave Narey (46) Gary McGinnis for Paul Hegarty (46) Dave Beaumont for Derek Stark (46) John Gardiner for Hamish McAlpine (46) Iain Phillip for Davie Dodds (50) Ian Britton for Maurice Malpas (63) |
| Cautions | |
| None. | None. |
| Red Cards | |
| None. | None. |
| Match Officials | |
|
C. Sinclair (Forfar) (Referee) |
Match Report
Just a day after United had won the League Championship for the first time in their history, a large number of the squad were asked to play another match in Forfar. With many players no doubt a little worse for wear after an evening of celebrations following their 2-1 win over rivals Dundee, United made an inauspicious start to their reign as Premier Division champions. The beneficiaries were Billy Bennett and John Clark of the Angus club. United's appearance at Forfar to honour a previous commitment was warmly welcomed by Forfar officials, players and fans.
At the start of the game the home team lined up to applaud United's players, who were also presented with travelling rugs. United took the field with nine of the league-winning team, but it was Forfar who took the lead when Billy Gallagher scored in the 14th minute from a Cormack lob.
It was John Clark who made it two in the 77th minute after McDonald hit the post. John Holt was the United man to get on the score-sheet. He got one back for United in the closing stages of the match. Only a Brash goal-line clearance, preceded by some fine 'keeping by Forfar's Stewart Kennedy, prevented United from equalising. At the end of the game, led by the Forfar chairman Sam Smith, the home crowd cheered United off the park, probably the first time this has ever happened to an opposing team at Forfar.
Squad Statistics (as at May 15th, 1983)
| 1982-83 | All Time | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | Nat |  |
 |
|
|
|
League Table (as at May 15th, 1983)
| Pld | W | D | L | +/- | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | DUNDEE UTD | 36 | 24 | 8 | 4 | +55 | 56 |
| 2. | Celtic | 36 | 25 | 5 | 6 | +54 | 55 |
| 3. | Aberdeen | 36 | 25 | 5 | 6 | +52 | 55 |
| 4. | Rangers | 36 | 13 | 12 | 11 | +11 | 38 |
| 5. | St Mirren | 36 | 11 | 12 | 13 | -4 | 34 |
| 6. | Dundee | 36 | 9 | 11 | 16 | -11 | 29 |
| 7. | Hibernian | 36 | 7 | 15 | 14 | -16 | 29 |
| 8. | Motherwell | 36 | 11 | 5 | 20 | -34 | 27 |
| 9. | Morton | 36 | 6 | 8 | 22 | -44 | 20 |
| 10. | Kilmarnock | 36 | 3 | 11 | 22 | -63 | 17 |
| League results since United's last match |
|---|
| None. |