Dundee United 5
Dundee 1
Scottish Cup (3rd Round)

Match Report

Newspaper extract from The Sporting Post.

Dundee United had the better of the early exchanges in a fiercely contested start to the match.

United trainer Andy Dickson was about the busiest man on the park attending players on four different occasions in the first ten minutes.

Four minutes later, in a bid to cool things down, referee lan Foote booked MacLaren for a foul on Sturrock.

A minute after this, Pettigrew should have put United ahead when he won a tussle with Millar for the ball following a great pass by Holt but Donaldson came out to block his shot. A minute later Sturrock shot over from a good position as Dundee tried to fight their way into this hectic tie.

Murphy became the second Dundee player to be booked in 18 minutes for a foul on Hegarty and little Graeme Payne was prominent in almost every home move with the Dundee defence too busy to help their mates out up front.

Pettigrew eventually broke the deadlock in 29 minutes after a brilliant run by Eamonn Bannon. The ex-Chelsea star waltzed past three defenders before slipping the ball to Pettigrew, leaving him only Donaldson to beat, which he did with a carefully-placed shot.

Bannon almost scored himself two minutes later with a clever chip shot which Donaldson did well to save but Dundee were not lying down and Mackie, after a good run, went close with a 25-yard shot. Then Donaldson showed his class again with a full-length save from Sturrock as the excitement reached fever pitch.

McAlpine had to punch the ball away from Sinclair's head to prevent a certain equaliser and in 36 minutes Dundee appeared to have scored the equaliser when Shirra got his head to a Mackie cross and beat McAlpine.

The referee signalled a goal, but after consulting his linesman, chalked it off and awarded United a free kick almost on the by-line. A strange decision. This turnaround brought several beer cans on to the pitch from the Dundee end. Mackie had another good run and a shot deflected for a corner and from it MacLaren had a shot blocked by a defender and Pirie poked one past from six yards.

It was real helter-skelter stuff and just on the interval Millar became the third Dundee player to be cautioned, again for a foul on Sturrock.

Both sides made changes on the interval, Kirkwood replacing Bannon for United and Barr coming on for Murphy for Dundee.

Sturrock put United two in front in 49 minutes when a chip from Payne struck Redford, and bounced in front of the wee winger who blasted the ball past Donaldson from six yards.

A Shirra passback to Donaldson almost cost Dundee another goal when Pettigrew intercepted but the keeper brought off another fine save. There was further sensation in 56 minutes when MacLaren, booked in the first half, was sent off for an off-the-ball incident with Kirkwood.

Three minutes later United, were awarded a penalty for at Barr handling offence but Donaldson brilliantly saved Sturrock's spot kick.

The veteran keeper could do nothing about Pettigrew's second goal a minute later, however, the centre forward took a pass from Kopel and gave Donaldson no chance with a low, angular shot from 20 yards.

There was further trouble in 62 minutes when Sinclair followed MacLaren into the dressing room following another off the-ball incident, this time with Hegarty.

With Dundee reduced to nine men, the remainder of the game had to be meaningless. Pettigrew grabbed his hat trick in 67 minutes when he chested down a Sturrock cross to score and this brought a fan on to the park. He was promptly apprehended. The game had developed into a farce, and with seven minutes to go United got a second penalty when Millar fouled Sturrock.

Pettigrew scored despite a valiant effort from Donaldson. With five minutes to go, and while hundreds of fans were leaving the ground, Dodds came on for Pettigrew.

With a minute to go Billy Pirie grabbed Dundee's sole consolation with a good goal to end a bad, bad night for the Dens Parkers.

Footnote. The last time Willie Pettigrew scored four goals in a match was four years ago-for Motherwell against Dundee in a league match at Dens!