Hat-trick hero Lawrence Shankland has set a Dundee United record with his incredible start to the season.
Shankland scored three times against Greenock Morton on Saturday as the Tangerines romped to a 6-0 victory at Tannadice to stay at the top of the Championship.
That took his tally to a remarkable 13 in just seven league games and 15 in all competitions.
Shankland’s exploits have had the club historians dusting off the record books.
The conclusion of the research is that he is setting the pace like no other before him.
Tannadice greats Peter McKay and Finn Dossing had been the players to compare him with as his tally rose but he is now beating them.
McKay managed “just” 12 in the club’s first eight league games in season 1949-50, while Dossing was on 10 after seven league matches in 1965-66, including his famous hat-trick against Dundee in the Dens Park Massacre.
Therefore, his three strikes against Ton – Paul McMullan also grabbed a double and Logan Chalmers finished off the scoring – means Shankland has made the best start in terms of goals in the United’s history.
Indeed, so regular a headline-grabber has Shankland become that club officials excused him from media duties after Saturday’s game in order, they argued, to give him a break and others a chance.
