Willo Flood has labelled Dundee United’s dismal defeat to Dumbarton a “reality check.”
The experienced Irish midfielder captained the Tangerines to a 1-0 loss that had many members of the large travelling support heading to the exits early.
United somehow managed to follow a superb success over Partick Thistle in the Betfred Cup last Tuesday night with a baffling bad display against the Sons in the Championship at the Cheaper Insurance Direct Stadium on Saturday.
In the shadow of Dumbarton Rock, they were a shadow of their former selves as their form hit the rocks.
Flood didn’t try to play down what was a miserable result for Ray McKinnon’s men, who now sit third bottom of the table with just one point from two games.
Instead, the straight talker stressed the need for immediate improvement.
He said: “I don’t know what happened because we went from our best performance of the season so far to our worst.
“We just weren’t at the races from start to finish.
“We gave away a silly goal but that goal was coming, if I’m being honest.
“I thought Dumbarton were worthy winners.
“This is a reality check for us.
“Sometimes you just have to grind out results and it won’t be pretty.
“To be fair to the manager, he has been emphasising that a lot.
“We started OK but our performance tailed off and we never really cut them open.
“If we are going to progress in this league then we need to start cutting teams open.
“We also need to stop conceding goals.
“It is very frustrating and I can’t put my finger on what happened.
“The manager will go over it and we’ll get working again on the training pitch because we need to rectify things for our next match.”
It was a Mark Docherty penalty that gave the Sons the lead after 54 minutes and, huff and puff as they did, the Tannadice men couldn’t drag themselves back into the match.
The Tangerines started the game really well and completely dominated possession for the first quarter-of-an-hour or so.
Stewart Murdoch, Scott Fraser and Blair Spittal all had attempts on goal in that time.
Indeed, it took the Sons 25 minutes to get up the park but the home team slowly began to get into the game.
Ten minutes before the break Dumbarton almost snatched the lead but defender Greg Buchanan’s snap-shot from inside the box just cleared the bar.
With half-time approaching, United’s Tope Obadeyi, who had switched to the left from a central position, caused havoc in the Dumbarton box with a low cross but the first half finished goalless.
If the Tangerines had been told to up their game after the break it didn’t show.
Indeed, on 53 minutes, they conceded a freekick at the edge of their box and Ryan Stevenson’s shot cracked off the United bar.
Then they fell behind just a minute later from the penalty spot.
Buchanan was the Sons player challenged by Mark Durnan, albeit keeper Cammy Bell thought he had been fouled in the build-up and was booked for protesting. Docherty stepped up to give Bell no chance with the kick.
United substitute Simon Murray had a golden chance to level on 66 minutes but somehow screwed his shot wide when it looked easier to score.
Just a minute later, Nick van der Velden, another sub, picked out Jamie Robson with a cross to the back post and the youngster’s volley was brilliantly saved by home keeper Alan Martin.
United kept fighting until the end and Coll Donaldson’s shot was then blocked by Martin with three minutes to go.
Van der Velden also tried his luck from outside the box but the ball flew wide and many of the travelling fans headed home before the final whistle.
United boss McKinnon, like Flood, was a bit baffled by the contrasting form shown against Partick in the cup and this league clash with the Sons.
He was also adamant that his players would “bounce back” when they face Ayr United at home this Saturday.
McKinnon said: I am disappointed that we can play so well on Tuesday and hit those heights then come here and drop below that standard.
“That’s frustrating for me because we all saw how good we could play against Partick and destroy them.
“We were then so lacklustre.
“It’s a learning curve for the team – in fact, for everybody – and we have to learn from it quickly.
“I thought for the first 15 to 20 minutes our tempo was good but after that we couldn’t really get the breakthrough and played at their (Dumbarton’s) tempo for the rest of the game.
“It’s early in the season, though, and we’ll bounce back from this.
“If we can get the performance level up to what it was last Tuesday then we’ll be fine.
“This is a new team getting put together and the standard may be a bit up and down.
“We are a team in transition and it is about finding a balance, and getting consistency.
“We are all learning but the players need to understand quickly that this is a really competitive league and you get nothing for nothing.”
