Dundee United manager Jackie McNamara had to suffer on the sidelines as his team made another shocking start.
After going behind to Celtic in Sunday’s William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final before some fans had found their seats, the Tangerines were at it again in their first post-split SPL fixture against Motherwell at Tannadice.
With just three minutes on the clock, Michael Higdon scored a spectacular opener, then Henrik Ojamaa made it two just five minutes later.
Higdon netted another 10 minutes into the second half before captain Jon Daly grabbed a consolation for the hosts.
So a 3-1 home defeat was hardly the way United wanted to start their top-six set of fixtures and Europe now looks a forlorn hope for them.
Asked about the bad start, McNamara replied: “Aye, again!
“The first one was a good strike and you can’t take anything away from that. We could have stopped the shot…possibly.”
“The second one was disappointing because it came from a throw-in and he (Ojamaa) ran right through us. That wasn’t good defending.
“We battled hard after that and tried to get back into it. We had a few wee chances but their keeper has done well for them.
“I felt the next goal was crucial and I was dis-appointed that it wasn’t us who got it. I am not going to use the cup game as an excuse. You could talk about tiredness but I thought we looked strong in the second half.
“The lads have shown the have ability but there are things we need to work on like mental toughness, taking responsibility for doing their own jobs and staying switched on.”
For a full match report see The Courier or try our digital edition.