Dundee United 6
Dundee 2
League (Premiership)

Match Report

Dundee's 2015 got off to a terrible start with a defensive horror show in the New Year's Day derby at Tannadice. The Dark Blues went down 6-2, with Armstrong, Mackay-Steven (twice), Erskine, Fojut and Telfer scoring for United. Greg Stewart and Luka Tankulic were the Dee's scorers on a day which started badly and only got worse.

Paul Hartley made five changes to the starting line-up. The big pre-match news was a late injury to Kyle Letheren after the team-sheets had been issued. Arvid Schenk came in for his Dark Blue debut and young Kyle Gourlay was the substitute keeper. Kevin Thomson was also injured and Paul McGinn suspended. Martin Boyle and Luka Tankulic dropped onto the bench. Willie Dyer replaced McGinn, playing at left back with Gary Irvine moving to the right. Iain Davidson came in to play a holding midfield role along with Jim McAlister. Paul McGowan returned in the right midfield spot after missing five matches through injury, and Gary Harkins came back to play in the hole behind David Clarkson, the sole striker.

The new keeper had a desperately unfortunate start, beaten by a huge deflection after only 33 seconds. Ciftci played a long ball to the left of the Dundee penalty area. Townsend knocked it back in and Erskine mishit a shot that was heading well wide till it flew off ARMSTRONG to leave Schenk helpless.

Dundee recovered well from the setback, and started to win the midfield battles. The Dark Blues spent long periods in the home penalty area pressing for an equaliser. Stewart hooked a McGowan pass over the bar, and glanced a header from a corner across the goalmouth when he should perhaps have got it on target.

However, Greg Stewart made no mistake when Harkins was fouled just outside the United penalty area, near the corner of the box. STEWART stepped up and hit a marvellous curling free kick across Cierzniak and into the top corner.

After clawing their way back into the game it was then a dreadful disappointment for the Dark Blue support when their team fell right out of contention in a dreadful 15 minute spell. United had two quick corners after the Dee's goal. From the second the ball was cleared only as far as Gary MACKAY-STEVEN who stepped inside Dyer and hit a carbon copy of Stewart's goal; a superb, whipped curling shot across Schenk.

Stewart did have a good run and shot, but the real story was that everything was going wrong for Dundee in defence. ERSKINE was left in far too much space on the right, and he cut into the penalty area to score with another deflected shot.

Dundee tried hard to get forward and pull a goal back, but it was Rankin who went close for United with a swerving shot from 30 yards. Dundee's eagerness to grab a goal before the break led to the fourth goal when they took chances on the left, trying to keep the ball in play. They lost it to Armstrong, who played a good pass through for MACKAY-STEVEN to run on and curl his shot round Schenk for the fourth goal.

Paul Hartley replaced Gary Harkins with Martin Boyle at half time. The Dark Blues showed some grit in the early stages of the half as they tried to make the scoreline more respectable. They pushed United back for a spell and came close when Cierznak parried McPake's raking, low 30 yard shot. Under pressure Stewart couldn't force the rebound past the keeper and the ball then bounced off Clarkson and wide.

Cierzniak was then fortunate when he dropped a corner, but Konrad mishit his shot wide. Even when the Dark Blues were pressing United the home side always looked dangerous on the break. Ciftci ran down the left and his deflected cross looped over Schenk and dropped dangerously at the far post where Davidson cleared.

Konrad went agonisingly close to pulling a goal back when he glanced a header from Stewart's free kick onto the underside of the bar. He was then taken off, to be replaced by Tankulic, with Iain Davidson moving back into central defence.

Immediately after the switch Schenk made a decent save from Mackay-Steven, pushing the ball round the post for a corner. When Mackay-Steven's corner came over the Dark Blues' defence was all at sea, allowing FOJUT to score with a simple near post header.

19 year old Dylan Carreiro came on to make his debut, replacing Clarkson with 20 minutes to go. The youngster looked comfortable on the ball, and played positively in spite of the scoreline.

The sixth goal came in a style that summed up Dundee's defensive problems on the day. Tankulic burst into the United half, but a tackle sent the ball cannoning downfield, leaving Mackay-Steven well clear of any defensive cover. Unselfishly he rolled the ball across for TELFER to score United's sixth.

Schenk had to save with his feet to prevent a seventh, but it was the Dark Blues who managed to score the final goal of the day, in the 90th minute. Greg Stewart held the ball up well, and played Luka TANKULIC in to clip the ball past Cierzniak and score his first league goal for the club.

Dundee had more than their fair share of bad luck on the day, but there can be no denying United's superiority. They clinically exploited the breaks that came their way and punished the Dark Blues' defensive frailty ruthlessly. For long spells today Dundee enjoyed equal possession, and even applied sustained pressure on United's rearguard. However, the home defence coped well when challenged, unlike the Dee's defence that looked in trouble every time United attacked. What was particularly disappointing was the way that after playing well and deservedly equalising, the Dark Blues collapsed when United stepped up a gear late in the first half.

Match report written by James Christie - Official Dundee website