Dundee Utd 1
St Johnstone 0
League (SPL)

Match Report

For the third time within the space of six weeks we met and defeated our Tayside rivals. Whilst the other two clashes at McDiarmid had produced little in the way of goalmouth action, this one did. Most particularly by us during a first half in which we played as well as we have done at any time this season. No one could dispute that we deserved to
be ahead of them by more than Jan Telesnikov's magnificent match winner at the break but the inconsistency which has plagued us within matches was once more highlighted here. Billy Dodds might well have given us the lead a mere sixty seconds after the start when a Hugh Davidson' flick set up the inform striker but for once his control let him down and Alan Main quickly closed him down and blocked his shot. Three minutes later and Hugh Davidson's failure to bring a Steven Thompson cross under control cost him a chance of opening the scoring. Ironically, it was just after Saints only real chance of the half that we went ahead. And it was only thanks to Alan Combe that we didn't fall behind. McMahon hurdled the challenge of Scott McCulloch to rifie in a shot which in no way lacked power but was brilliantly held by the United keeper. Saints were made to pay a heavy price for that failure, falling behind a couple of mmutes later. If the move was simple enough with David Partridge feeding Billy Dodds who squared the bail into the path of Jan Tetesnikov, the finish was anything but as the Israeli midfielder sent a scintiltating left foot shot past an astonished Main. David Hannah then fired wide from a Scott McCulloch cross as the pressure on the visitor's goal was maintained. Steven Thompson sent a header from a David Hannah cross just past and Saints would have been happy to go in at the break trailing by just a single goal. Not for the first time this season though it turned out to be a game of two halves. Gone was the free-flowing football which had been the hallmark of our first half performance as Saints dominated. But fortunately that was by-and-large only in terms of possession as they created few openings. An Alan Combe save from a short free-kick was about the only occasion on which the keeper was in any way tested as we held on for three more valuable points and complete a hat-trick of wins over Saints this season.