Dundee United were hit with a late sucker punch as they were defeated by English Premier League side Everton in Thursday night’s friendly.
The game had looked certain to end in stalemate before Toffees substitute Ross Barkley popped up with a headed goal with just three minutes remaining.
It was rough justice on the Tangerines who had given as good as they got for most of the game against the English side.
Despite the result, United boss Peter Houston declared himself satisfied with the performance of his players.
He said: ”It was a good exercise. I don’t think we will face a side with the quality of Everton every week. I thought we acquitted ourselves well tonight, although I am still a little disappointed to lose the goal.
”If anything I thought we could have gone on and won the game. But as I’ve said before, results don’t matter at this stage of the season. It is all about how we are progressing and I see an improvement in all the players.”
His counterpart David Moyes said: ”Dundee United were possibly a wee bit unlucky to lose that late goal as I thought they had played well in the second half. But we played a few youngsters and we also had a lot of experience sitting in the stand.”
The match had been scheduled to take place on Wednesday evening but was postponed because of the torrential rain that had descended on Dundee and much of the rest of Scotland.
Fears over long-term damage to the Tannadice playing surface had led to the 24-hour postponement but the pitch looked in immaculate condition as the teams warmed up.
The match was another step towards United’s first Europa League tie of the season in just 13 days’ time on August 2 with the Tannadice side set to discover who their opponents will be when the third qualifying draw is made at lunchtime today.
Ironically, United could face Everton’s city rivals Liverpool, with other potential opponents including Dinamo Moscow and Bursaspor.
United approached the game in confident frame of mind after their convincing 3-0 win over Dundee in the derby friendly at the weekend at Dens Park.
Houston made three changes from the team that beat the Dark Blues with three-goal hero Jon Daly, Willo Flood and Brian McLean being rested on the bench with Stuart Armstrong, Michael Gardyne and Barry Douglas drafted in to the starting XI.
The United fans were off their seats in the 12th minute when Gary Mackay-Steven produced a typical piece of trickery to beat three Everton defenders before sending a dangerous ball across the face of Tim Howard’s goal.
Disappointingly, there were no takers on hand in a Tangerine jersey and the chance went abegging.
Shortly after, the Toffees’ Jack Rodwell cracked a fine shot from 22 yards but his effort was straight at Radoslaw Cierzniak in the United goal.
The home side had an even better chance in the 16th minute when Johnny Russell broke down the right and pulled the ball back to Gardyne but, again, his snap shot on the turn was straight at the keeper.
Five minutes later, Gardyne turned provider when he played a penetrating ball over the top of the Everton defence to the onrushing Russell but the striker could not keep his shot down and he blasted well over the bar.
Shortly after, Russell was played in again by Armstrong but he fired wide as he was pressured by Shane Duffy.
United continued to press but could not create another notable opportunity with the teams heading down the tunnel at half-time with the scores level.
This may have been a friendly but Everton showed they weren’t holding back eight minutes after the restart when Cisco was outrageously late with a tackle on Gardyne and the African player was lucky only to receive a yellow from referee Willie Collum.
Not surprisingly, Moyes substituted Cisco shortly after.
The dangerous Russell had another half chance in the 57th minute when he beat the offside trap and raced down the left before firing an angled drive which flew straight into Howard’s arms.
After that, the game entered another lull with the pace very much that of a training session.
Home sub Ryan Dow did inject some excitement in the 69th minute as he sped through on the Everton goal before cracking a shot from 20 yards which Howard found too hot to handle but there was no-one in a United shirt close enough to capitalise on his error.
As the game entered the closing stages, Everton seemed to tire and United pressed strongly.
Again, it was Dow who went close with five minutes to go when he clipped a shot just past Howard’s left-hand post.
However, it was Everton who had the last laugh in the 87th minute when Seamus Coleman found space down the right and clipped a cross to Barkley who headed back across goal past Cierzniak and into the net.