Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Ross Graham rises to Jim Goodwin ‘reaction’ challenge after Dundee United derby disappointment

Graham was excellent, and ultimately the match-winner, against St Mirren.

Ross Graham was faultless against St Mirren
Graham was faultless against St Mirren. Image: Richard Wiseman/Shutterstock

Ross Graham insists he will use his derby disappointment against Dundee as a learning curve after returning to the United side in splendid fashion.

The Tannadice centre-back produced a largely solid showing in the Tangerines’ Premiership opener against the Dee, aside from the moment he was spun by Simon Murray before conceding a penalty kick in his desperation to make amends.

Luke McCowan made no mistake from 12 yards to rescue 2-2 draw for the Dark Blues.

Having been left out against Ross County in the Terrors’ next league game, Sunday’s showdown with St Mirren marked his first opportunity to put that set-back behind him – and Graham obliged by heading home the only goal of the game.

And defensively, he barely put a foot wrong as United kept their second clean sheet of the season.

Ross Graham mistimes his challenge on Simon Murray
Ross Graham mistimes his challenge on Simon Murray on derby day. Image: SNS

“Football is always going to have ups and downs,” said Graham, reflecting on derby day.

“You’re going to make mistakes and, unfortunately, that mistake got punished.

“That’s how it’s going to be at this level. Every mistake you make is more than likely to get punished. I’ll learn from that.

“The manager took me out last week and he explained the reasons to me. He wanted me to show a reaction (against St Mirren) and I felt like I did.”

United’s answer to Rory Delap?

Reflecting on his fourth senior goal for his boyhood heroes, Graham added: “We work on our set-plays and looked for weaknesses in their defence. It was all about the delivery into the box.

“It was a good ball by Will (Ferry). Thankfully, I got myself on the end of it.”

Ross Graham towers to head home against St Mirren
Ross Graham towers to head home against St Mirren. Image: Russell Cheyne/Shutterstock

While providing a goal threat at one end of the pitch and a roadblock at the other, Graham also served as an unlikely supply line courtesy of his booming long throws.

Several missiles into the box caused havoc and one, bizarrely, struck the bar after evading everyone.

“Nobody touched it, so somebody asked the ref what would happen – but he said it would have been no goal,” continued Graham. “I was hoping someone would get on the end of it but unfortunately not.

“If you get the ball in the box, it can cause problems for the other team’s defence, so I try to help out in as many ways as possible. If you have a long throw you need to use it to your advantage.

“We practice set-plays and I chuck a couple in through the week.”

Graham: New look United need to stick together

The Terrors have been paired with Motherwell in the quarter-finals of the Premier Sports Cup but that encounter will be immediately put on the back-burner given the importance of Saturday’s visit of St Johnstone.

And Graham reckons United’s start to the season provides plenty of cause for optimism.

Toyosi Olusanya battles Ross Graham
Toyosi Olusanya gets no change out of the excellent Graham. Image: Russell Cheyne/Shutterstock

“We more than matched Dundee – a top-six side – in the first league game,” added Graham. “County are a good, steady side and physical. We more than matched them as well.

On Sunday against St Mirren, who have been top six for the last two seasons, we competed and got the win.

“We’re a fairly new side with a lot of new faces in the building. We need to stick together, and we’ve done that.”

Conversation