Dundee United completed a hat-trick of victories over St Mirren this season with a 2-0 triumph at Tannadice on Saturday.
Kevin Holt opened the scoring from the penalty spot, finally breaking the deadlock after Will Ferry struck the post in the first half and Sam Dalby had lashed over the bar.
Holt saw a second spot-kick superbly saved by Ellery Balcombe after Marcus Fraser was adjudged to have hauled back Louis Moult, for which the Buddies defender received a red card.
But from the resulting corner, Emmanuel Adegboyega – match-winner when these sides previously met in Paisley – made the game safe from close-range.
Courier Sport was in place to analyse the action.
The ‘heroic’ trio
Jim Goodwin was fulsome in his praise for United’s defensive unit on Saturday.
“Heroic” is not the type of adjective the Tannadice gaffer readily throws about.
And it was thoroughly deserved.
One might look at St Mirren’s stats – one shot on target; xG of 0.34 – and surmise that they were tame and toothless. In fact, Stephen Robinson’s outfit played well for chunks of the contest.
Mark O’Hara and Killian Phillips largely dominated the midfield, Scott Tanser whipped in some tantalising deliveries and Toyosi Olusanya stretched United with intelligent running.
However, the Buddies could not find the killer pass as Declan Gallagher, Holt and Adeboyega produced a masterclass in organisation, aggression and concentration.
St Mirren delivered 35 CROSSES over the course of the contest, had 268 passes in the United half (for context, the Terrors had 162 in the Buddies’ half) and produced 108 ‘final third entries’ to the Tangerines’ 60.
All brilliantly repelled.
United’s three centre-backs produced a combined 24 CLEARANCES. Their St Mirren counterparts Alex Gogic, Richard Taylor and Fraser registered nine between them.
Even before Holt and Adegboyega settled the match, this was arguably the finest display the Tangerines’ defence had produced all season.
Holt won’t give up his place without a fight
It seems churlish to single out any member of that United back-three.
However, for the third successive Premiership fixture, Holt was outstanding. He is rolling back the years and, with Ross Graham a welcome sight back on the bench, evidently won’t give up his place without a fight.
That message is loud and clear.
As well as helping to fend off the barrage of wide deliveries, Holt made a wonderful last-ditch block to thwart Olusanya’s seemingly goal-bound effort in the second period. Minutes later, he would win, and convert, a penalty to open the scoring.
Showing a willingness to burst forward, Holt zipped another shot wide following a Glenn Middleton cut-back.
The only black mark against his name was the second spot-kick – well saved by Balcombe.
Even so, it was Holt who won the header from the resulting corner and, while the Buddies keeper blocked that effort, Adegboyega prodded home from a yard.
VAR ‘controversy’ much ado about nothing
While officiating in Scotland and its application of VAR may be imperfect, is there a need to make refereeing discourse the most prominent part of so much post-match analysis?
Especially when nothing particularly controversial occurs.
Jack Walton was not sent off for his mistimed challenge on Olusanya in the first period. Rightly so. When he was brought down, the ball was on its way towards the corner flag; hardly the denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity.
While high, the tackle wasn’t sufficiently dangerous for VAR Don Robertson to recommend that referee Matthew MacDermid attend the monitor, in keeping with the approach of less intervention this season, unless a clear error has occurred.
Contrary to the analysis of the fixture on Sportscene, it was checked by VAR.
Similarly, awarding the first penalty WAS the right decision. Fraser kicks Holt’s heel. It is entirely accidental and terribly unfortunate for the St Mirren defender, who is attempting to clear the ball.
But it’s a foul.
The second penalty is more debatable.
Fraser defends a long ball woefully and, in his desire to make amends, appears to tug at Moult’s jersey. The canny United striker feels the contact and hits the deck.
Even after multiple replays, there is a lack of clarity. In which case, VAR cannot recommend that MacDermid changes his on-field decision.
The red card is a harsh punishment but, once it has been decided that Fraser has committed the foul and made no attempt to play the ball, the dismissal is justified by the letter of the law.
Mind the gap
“We’ve had a very encouraging start to the season but that’s all it is,” noted Goodwin after the match.
Indeed, he professes to have little interest in the Premiership table until the end of January – at the earliest.
A sensible approach.
Nevertheless, it is inarguable that the standings make fine reading for the Tangerines.
They are 11 points above the bottom two places, with survival the top priority. Goodwin’s side also have a seven-point cushion in the top half, with Dundee the side that currently occupies seventh spot.
With Kilmarnock (H) and Motherwell (A) up next, it provides an opportunity – albeit both fixtures will be testing – to build that tally further ahead of a mightily challenging winter period that includes Celtic (twice), Aberdeen, Dundee, Hearts and Rangers.
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