Two down and four to go.
Dundee’s United’s Premiership dream is very much alive.
The Tangerines took a while to get going but it turned out to be a comfortable night’s work in the end. Job done, on to the next one.
Falkirk may be rested for the play-off semi-final after their week off but United will be full of confidence after this 3-0 win on the night and 5-1 over the two legs.
Simon Murray broke the deadlock just after half-time and then short-term signing Wato Kuate made himself a Tannadice hero with a late contender for goal of the season.
Blair Spittal completed the scoring in the last 10 minutes.
It was no great surprise that it was a case of same again with Ray McKinnon’s starting line-up given the dominant performance his team produced as the game progressed at Cappielow on Tuesday night.
The only difference was Scott Fraser returning to the bench.
There was a significant change for Morton, with Jamie McGowan replacing Derek Gaston in goal. Also in the visitors’ XI was United old boy Kudus Oyenuga.
Spittal scored the winner in midweek and he tried his luck from a similar distance after four minutes. The quality of the strike was somewhat different, however, with this effort drifting well wide of the post.
A couple of minutes later Willo Flood gave the ball away on the edge of his own box and Oyenuga decided to try his luck from distance on the angle. It was sweetly struck and Cammy Bell mistimed his dive but the shot was a yard wide of the target.
Midway through the first half United carved out the best chance of the game so far.
Stewart Murdoch cut the ball back for Murray and his low shot scraped inches past. If Murray had been a foot or two wider with his effort, Thomas Mikkelsen would have been able to get a touch with his slide at the back post.
The United centre-forward hadn’t enjoyed the sort of service he thrives on and decided to go alone on 28 minutes, cutting in from the left and letting flying with a 25-yarder that had keeper McGowan worried but flew just over.
On the half-hour Gary Oliver was pulled back by William Edjenguele as they both chased a ball over the top, resulting in a booking for the centre-back. It proved to be a foul worth making, though, as the free-kick came to nothing.
There was another near thing for United before the break, when Murdoch’s free-kick into the box was helped on by Mark Durnan. Tony Andreu, who had been having a quiet game up to this point, sent his header goalward and it took agile keeping from McGowan at full stretch to keep it out. Mikkelsen was again unlucky not to pick up the scraps.
United had been far from their best in the opening 45 and the prospect of a nervy second half was looming large.
An early goal after the re-start was just what was needed and Murray obliged on 52 minutes.
A Murdoch cross from the right didn’t look to be a particularly dangerous one but the Morton defence made a mess of it and the ball broke perfectly for the former Arbroath man who lashed it home from about seven yards out.
If Morton were going to find a way back into this tie they needed to do it quickly and they had a golden chance to do just that on 59 minutes when Aiden Nesbitt’s cross was perfectly weighted for Oyenuga. The striker couldn’t keep his eight-yard header down, though.
Not much was known about Kuate when he arrived a couple of months ago but we can now safely say that he has a decent shot on him. On 64 minutes the Portugese midfielder drilled a spectacular left-footer high into the net from 30 yards out.
Morton have been on a dreadful run of 10 games without a win and it was no surprise when Spittal made it 3-0 on the night against a side whose air had long since gone out of their balloon.
For United, it’s back to Tannadice on Tuesday.
Dundee United – Bell, Durnan, Spittal, Murdoch, Murray (Coote 84), Edjenguele, Flood (Telfer 66), Kuate, Mikkelsen (Fraser 84), Andreu, Robson. Subs not used – Zwick, Dixon, Donaldson, Allardice.
Morton – McGowan, Lamie, O’Ware, Doyle, Oliver, Forbes (Tidser 63), Oyenuga, Lindsay (Shankland 69), Nesbitt (McDonagh 73), Russell, Murdoch. Subs not used – Gaston, Scullion, Tiffoney, Strapp.
Referee – Andrew Dallas.
Attendance – 6,606.
