Dundee United boss Jim Goodwin insists the impact of Richard Odada was crucial in the Tangerines claiming a pivotal point against Hibs on Sunday.
Patience has been a virtue for the towering summer signing, who had made just four senior appearances – totalling 48 minutes – prior to the trip to Easter Road.
However, the Kenya international entered the fray at half-time against the Hibees, facilitating the switch to a 4-2-3-1 and immediately imposing himself on the game, winning tackles, aerial duels and circulating possession nicely.
Odada also showcased good mobility, with no lingering doubts over his fitness; the reason he saw such little action in the aftermath of his arrival.
“Richard came into pre-season late, so he wasn’t anywhere near it, in terms of fitness,” said Goodwin.
“Then (Ross) Docherty, (Craig) Sibbald and (David) Babunski were mainstays in the team when he did get up to speed.
“Now with the injuries that we’ve had, Richard is getting opportunities to play and he’s showing everybody why we brought him to the club. I thought his second-half display at Easter Road was excellent.
“He’s really aggressive, comfortable on the ball and he played a big, big part in us getting a point.”
Goodwin added: “I thought the same about our other substitutions. (Sam) Dalby and (Jort) van der Sande were a real handful for the Hibs back-line when Jort came on.
“So, we were delighted to take a point, and we’ll get plenty of time to recover until the next one. Hopefully, we’ll feel a lot fresher going into the game on Saturday (Ross County), as opposed to how we felt on Sunday.”
Trapanovski waiting game
With Craig Sibbald, Ross Docherty, Ross Graham and Louis Moult all missing from the side on Sunday, Goodwin did not have his injury problems to seek.
That made it all the more worrying when Kristijan Trapanovski limped off just seven minutes after coming on at half-time.
It is a recurrence of a hamstring issue, having only recently returned from a month out with the same issue. The severity remains to be seen.
“I know people will be questioning why he (Trapanovski) wasn’t in from the start, but he’s not long back from a hamstring injury,” added Goodwin.
“He played an important part in the Aberdeen and Motherwell games, so we felt the sensible thing to do was to rest him on Sunday.
“We knew he was going to have to come onto the pitch at some point and my intention was for the last half-hour, but he didn’t last long after half-time, unfortunately.
“Hopefully, it’s not too serious because the last thing we need is another injury. We’re missing some really key players already and we certainly don’t need to be missing Trapa for next week.”
Conversation