Dundee UtdDundee Utd |
2 - 22 - 2 |
HibernianHibernian |
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League (Premiership) |
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Goalscorers | |
David Goodwillie (83) Brian Graham (90) |
Liam Craig (38) Liam Craig (pen.) (61) |
Team Managers | |
Jackie McNamara |
Terry Butcher |
Starting Eleven | |
1. Radoslaw Cierzniak 20. John Souttar 5. Gavin Gunning 16. Mark Wilson 26. Andrew Robertson 19. Ryan Gauld 11. Gary Mackay-Steven 10. Stuart Armstrong 6. Paul Paton 8. John Rankin 21. Nadir Çiftçi |
Ben Williams Ryan McGivern Paul Hanlon Michael Nelson Jordan Forster Scott Robertson Liam Craig Paul Cairney Lewis Stevenson James Collins Paul Heffernan |
Bench | |
25. Marc McCallum 2. Seán Dillon 17. Chris Erskine 4. Calum Butcher 7. David Goodwillie 9. Brian Graham 18. Ryan Dow |
Sean Murdoch Alan Maybury Owain Tudur-Jones Danny Handling Sam Stanton Abdellah Zoubir Jason Cummings |
Substitutions | |
Brian Graham for Nadir Çiftçi (40) Seán Dillon for Mark Wilson (46) David Goodwillie for Ryan Gauld (58) |
Sam Stanton for Paul Cairney (75) Owain Tudur-Jones for Paul Heffernan (83) |
Cautions | |
Andrew Robertson (82) |
Scott Robertson (69) |
Red Cards | |
None. | None. |
Match Officials | |
Steven McLean (Referee) |
Jackie McNamara kept faith with the same starting side which lost so narrowly to Aberdeen on New Year’s day. After three defeats on the bounce this was a huge game for the hosts who were looking to get back on track against a resurgent Hibs. Fresh from a derby win over Hearts in midweek, Terry Butcher made just the one change to his team, with Paul Heffernan starting up front for the Easter Road side in place of Jason Cummings.
It was an uneventful start in terms of chances but by the 10th minute there were signs the hosts were going to cause trouble with their passing and movement. That said it was the visitors who were first to threaten when a James Collins header from a corner was hacked off the line by John Rankin. It was midway through the half before United first troubled the goal when they were awarded a free kick as Ryan Gauld was upended. The youngster laid off to Nadir Ciftci whose well struck drive was claimed by Ben Williams. There was a strange incident on the half hour mark which ended in controversy from a tangerine point of view. Goalkeeper Ben Williams gave the ball away just outside the box which appeared to gift Gary Mackay-Steven an open goal to shoot at. The Hibs player then felled the winger just as he was shooting which may well have meant Williams seeing red. Much to the confusion of the home contingent the linesman had raised his flag for offside and Williams avoided action. Just as the Terrors were looking the more likely to open the scoring, Hibs cashed in on a defensive error to break the deadlock. Mark Wilson attempted to play the ball to John Souttar but instead gifted an opening to Liam Craig who broke into the area and drilled low past Cierzniak. Brian Graham then replaced Nadir Ciftci who was withdrawn through injury as the home side tried to adjust to the situation.
The Tangerines made a positive start to the half and Gauld shot low past the post in the 47th minute after being set up by Armstrong. David Goodwillie was brought on with just over 30 minutes remaining but straight away Gunning had to cut out a Collins cross to ensure the side were still chasing a single goal deficit. This didn’t last much longer however as Hibs doubled their advantage in 60 minutes. Souttar was adjudged to have pushed Collins down in the box and the referee awarded a penalty. Liam Craig was again the scorer as he sent Cierzniak the wrong way to make it 2-0. As it seemed time was slipping away from the hosts they finally pulled a goal back in the 83rd minute. Graham picked up a loose clearance and squared across goal to David Goodwillie who showed tremendous composure with his back to goal as he spun and slotted home from five yards. With four minutes remaining Graham had a header deflected over the bar for a corner before Mackay-Steven lashed over an angled drive. Rankin then set himself up for a half volley which was powerfully struck but he couldn’t keep it under Williams’s bar. The hosts were throwing everything at getting an equaliser and pushed Gunning up front to aid their cause. In then 90th minute they got their just rewards as they levelled the match. Goodwillie drilled the ball towards goal and Brian Graham was on hand to deflect into the net inside the 6 yard to send the fans behind that goal absolutely wild. There were still 4 minutes of injury time left to grab what would have been the winner of all winners but in the end the point was probably what both sides deserved.
Match Photos courtesy of Riki Grauer - More photos available at:
Dundee United Official Flickr Page
2013-14 | All Time | |||||
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Age | Nat | ![]() |
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|
Radoslaw Cierzniak (GK) | 30 |
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25 | - | 71 | - |
John Souttar | 17 |
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18 | 1 | 27 | 1 |
Mark Wilson | 29 |
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12 | - | 150 | 11 |
Gavin Gunning | 22 |
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16 | - | 82 | 6 |
Andrew Robertson | 19 |
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25 | 5 | 25 | 5 |
Gary Mackay-Steven | 23 |
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22 | 7 | 87 | 19 |
Paul Paton | 26 |
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25 | 1 | 25 | 1 |
Ryan Gauld | 18 |
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22 | 6 | 34 | 7 |
Stuart Armstrong | 21 |
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23 | 7 | 106 | 12 |
John Rankin | 30 |
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23 | 1 | 111 | 8 |
Nadir Çiftçi | 21 |
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22 | 8 | 22 | 8 |
Seán Dillon (sub) | 30 |
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15 | - | 249 | 3 |
David Goodwillie (sub) | 24 |
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22 | 6 | 158 | 46 |
Brian Graham (sub) | 26 |
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21 | 4 | 21 | 4 |
No league table has been added for this season.
After three successive defeats, we welcome Hibs today and hopefully can return to winning ways. Although we have lost three matches in a row, I wouldn't say it was a huge concern. After all, the previous defeats at St Mirren and St Johnstone were totally different as we they followed us being reduced to ten men. However against Aberdeen, it was a different story. We probably didn't deserve to score and go in front when we did. Then came the penalty incident which swung the game in Aberdeens direction. I spoke to Andrew and he thinks the ball hit him on the chest, but the referee made the decision quickly. Sometimes they go for you and other times they don't. Compounding our disappointment was losing the match to a late goal, which was highly frustrating. There wasn't much quality in the game, there were a lot of free-kicks and it stop-started all the time. Some of our passing was disappointing, and whilst we handled most of the pressure Aberdeen put on us, I felt it was a poor game. I always thought someone's mistake would decide the game and that was how it panned out.
So as we face Hibs this afternoon, we must get back to doing things we are good at and brought us success before this recent poor run of results. Obviously that isn't going to be easy against a Hibs side that has picked up since the arrival of Terry Butcher as manager. His sides are always hard working and well organised and we'll have to be back to our best if we are to collect the three points.