Dundee Utd1–0Motherwell

Another solid performance from United earned them their second consecutive league victory and clean sheet. Manager, Jackie McNamara, went with the same side that started the previous match in Aberdeen. A large United support were in attendance for this opening Tannadice fixture, with the Shed end opened to house overspill from the other two stands.

In perfect playing conditions both sides were able to move the ball around well in the opening stages. Motherwell were quickest to settle and came close to opening the scoring early in the game. After winning a run of corners, Josh Law almost capitalised from one. He collected the ball near the edge of the area and swerved a dipping shot out of the reach of Cierzniak only to see it strike the bar. That was almost the last we seen of Motherwell as an attacking force in the first half and they looked content to stay firm and collect a solitary point. United were playing some neat football but were unable to create any clear cut openings. The biggest cheers in the first half came for Fojut, who won five consecutive headers within a minute to the great delight of the tangerine faithful.

United were slowly moving through the gears in the second half and began to pin Motherwell back in their own half. Looking by far the fitter side, United were now dominating proceedings. During the spell of pressure in the early part of the second half it was unfortunate that their best chance fell to Paul Paton who shot over from close range following a good run and pass by Mackay-Steven. Then came the significant change in the match. McNamara brought on Bilate and changed formation from 4-2-3-1 to 4-4-2, opting to remove Watson and move Paton to right back. Given new attacking impetus, United now had Motherwell on their knees. However, just as it was beginning to look like the break through would not materialise, Mario Bilate produced a piece of magic. Picking the ball up midway in the Motherwell half, the striker took a deft first touch to loose his marker before rifling a shot beyond Twardzik and into he top corner from around 25 yards.

Manager's Comment:
"A fantastic strike from Mario gave us a win I thought we deserved."

Fan's Comment:
"Motherwell looked way off the pace this evening, a pale shadow of last seasons side. However, it looked like we may not get the vital winning goal until super Mario let fly with his wonder goal. More of that please..."

Match Photos courtesy of Riki Grauer - More photos available at:
Dundee United Official Flickr Page