Dundee United vs Stenhousemuir

Match Report

Last night we played our second match in the Premier Sports Cup against newly promoted Premiership side Dundee United. We made three changes to the win against Buckie Thistle on Saturday with Ewen, Buchanan and Brown coming in for Yates, Taylor and Meechan.

Neither team really got their foot on the ball in the opening 20 minutes, but the Tangerines ensured that wasn’t the case for the remainder of the half. Goals from Moult and Gallagher made the difference by half time.

The only real chance for either team in the opening 20 minutes of the game came for Dundee United in the first 45 seconds. New signing, Trapanovski, tried his luck from the right side of the box with Deejay being quick to react, preventing his spectacularly curled effort from nestling in the top right corner.

Danger man, Louis Moult, opened the scoring in the 25th minute with a great header from a cross. Trapanovski’s cross was swung high into the box and met Moult’s head nicely to make it 1-0.

Declan Gallagher went on to double the Tangerines’ lead in the 33rd minute. Another Dundee United corner by Trapanovski once again found Gallagher unmarked in the box allowing him to cushion in his volley. 2-0.

We had a few corners in between spells of possession for Dundee United, but nothing that caused the opposition any problems.

The final chance of the half came for United when they were awarded a free kick in our half. Moult took it quickly, catching everyone unaware, but his audacious curling effort was tipped over brilliantly by a focused Deejay.

We went into the break trailing and with little to show for the half. We came on in the second half after a few substitutions and began to look like the team that beat Buckie Thistle. Ultimately though, despite turning in a second half performance to be proud of, it wasn’t to be our night with United adding a third goal to their tally.

Dundee United didn’t take long to find their shooting boots after the restart. In the 48th minute, Fotheringham’s poked effort was saved but only cleared as far as Trapanovski who was waiting to pounce at the back post and tapped it in. 3-0.

Youngster, Owen Stirten, thought he had opened his account for United in the 64th minute when Middleton’s cross found him unmarked in the box. He took the cross down cooly on his chest before thumping the ball goal bound, but we were spared our blushes by the crossbar.

We thought we had clawed a goal back ten minutes later when substitute Taylor’s lovely low curling shot looked like to it was going to creep in, but unfortunately went just wide.

The final chance of the evening came when substitutes Yates and O’Donnell linked up. Yates through ball allowed O’Donnell to have a run at goal, but clumsy feet allowed for a United tackle in the box ending that attack. The tackle did have cause for a penalty shout, but the referee waved it away.

On the whole our second half performance showed more character and drive. This definitely lifted the spirits of our travelling support and we look forward now to next Tuesday against Ayr United.

Preview

The champions take on the champions!

Tonight we take on newly promoted Premiership side Dundee United in our second Premier Sports Cup match.

We have only played the Tangerines twice, once in the B&Q Cup in 1995 which saw us win on penalties and once in 2019 in the Betfred Cup when Dundee United went on to be the victors in that game with a 2-1 scoreline.

Under the management of Jim Goodwin, Dundee United had a fantastic season in the Championship which earned them the title and a place back in the Premiership. Having only lost 5 Championship games last season they proved that they were eager to bounce back to the top.

So, is there a more fitting game than the champions playing the champions in a cup that allows for anything to happen?

One win apiece should prove for an interesting match tonight, with the Tangerines seeking to register three points in this cup and us aiming to add to our winning start.

The danger man for the Tangerines is Louis Moult who was the 2nd top scorer in the Championship last season. Moult netted an impressive 18 goals with 6 assists and will definitely be seeking to make his mark on the game tonight.

Make sure you come and support the team tonight for a game that is not to be missed!