The Better Times
9. Dundee United 6-0 Morton (28/09/19)
In terms of entertaining, attacking football this is the best performance on this list. United started fast and just never let-up. The much sought-after 90 minute performance. After playing our get out of jail free card the previous week against Arbroath after a turgid 89 minutes of football you could tell that the players were well up for this one. In the Championship, it is clear that if United score at home within the first few minutes then the opposition game plan goes out of the window, particularly if you are playing against the smaller teams. Against Arbroath, everyone was cursing the 4-2-3-1 formation and yet in the Morton game it worked perfectly. It is amazing the difference playing with intent actually has. We even managed it with Paul Watson playing right back and Liam Smith playing at left back (he had a decent game actually which lulled us into a false sense of security for the two weeks that followed). We even won with Peter Pawlett playing. In fact it was probably his best game in a United shirt (or his only decent game in United shirt depending on your point of view). After a blazing first 15 minutes there was a bit of a lull until before half time when Paul McMullan scored a cracking goal with a run started from a Smith clearance. The second half, especially late on saw us really step-up a few gears with Shankland scoring a mazy which started in his own half and Logan Chalmers getting a decent goal as well.
However, what I would say about this one, was that Morton are by quite a distance, the worst team I have seen since we were relegated including lower league teams we have played in the cups like Montrose, Cowdenbeath as well as Brechin in the league. Ancient, slow as fuck, no attacking flair and devoid of any belief or tactics whatsoever. Full of boys like Sutton, Millar, McAllister, Baird, McLean all there for a last wage. Pretty sad really. That is why this game only sits at number 9. In fact, I have seen Brechin Vics Juniors this season and they were better than Morton were that day, no joke. Still, you can only beat the team that's put in front of you and even I can't grumble when we score 6 goals. I just wish we could show that movement and tempo more often. Its the thing fans want more than anything else.
8. Dundee United 2-1 St Mirren (25/03/2017) Irn Bru Cup Final
There are two ways of looking at this one:
1. This is a Mickey Mouse Cup and winning it is an embarrassment because your clubs good name is forever associated with being relegated forcing you to play in it. It's not even as if all the teams in it take it seriously, loads of teams play fringe players in it especially in the early rounds so it's not even a level playing field especially if your team is playing its strongest line-up in all the rounds. It was a massive mistake for us to do this because in contributed to the fatigue which eventually caught up with us in the play-off final. To make matters worse the tournament has become farcical with the addition of Welsh (and now Irish, English and Colt) teams. Before the game it became something of a badge of honour to not go to this final and people seemed to be quite proud that our end was less than half-full in the final.
Or,
2. Winning a cup is not an everyday occurrence for United and the fact is, you can only beat what is put in front of you. We did rotate our squad during this tournament (although not as much as I'd have liked) with the Dunfermline game giving some of younger players like Ali Coote (who would retain his place for much of the season that followed including in this final) a chance. Plenty of Arabs with kids, like me will remember this game fondly because it is the first time their kids have seen United lift a trophy. Seeing his face light up at the presentation was worth a bit of embarrassment. The online cynics had a great night too as it turned out, trolling the fuck out of St Mirren supporters and Rory Loy who appeared to have placed their hopes and dreams on winning this cup and had been slagging United's support at the game.
The game itself was decent and although they probably shaded the first half we scored the goal of the season and one of the best United cup final goals through Andreu (tbf there is plenty of competition on that front, United have scored some beauties in cup finals over the years) and then switched off completely to let them equalise before the celebrations had even died down in our end (I was behind the goal) through the ex-Funster of course. To give Ray some credit though, his substitution taking Van der Velden (had done nothing) and putting on Thomas Mikkelsen then switching him and Simon Murray changed the game in our favour. We took control of the game and Murray and Dixon linked up really well down the left hand side with Mikkelsen's peach of a header coming from one of their crosses. Happy days.
Oh and Stewart Murdoch played at right back for the first time (leading to Frank Van der Struijk taking the huff and falling out with McKinnon seemingly) and Coll Donaldson came on as a subby in the last 5 minutes and played quite well in a sort of header anything and everything that gets in your road kind of way. And, the rumour was that Wato was going to start. Imagine the SCENES if he'd played here??? Full scale riots on the park most likely.
Its the only cup won by United I've had my hands on actually. It's a wee version of the Championship trophy. Lovely stuff. Better saviour the memory, because it doesn't look like I'll get my hands on the real thing anytime soon.
7. Dundee United 3-0 Inverness Caley Thistle (17/05/19) Play-Off Semi Final 2nd Leg
A win on the TV! Osman Sow scoring a goal!! The 'Ehm no goin back' brigade starting to return to Tannadice!!! United had well and truly entered the Twilight Zone. This was it. We were going up surely? This was a cracking game which could have gone either way despite the scoreline. They had their chances and Benji had a cracking save in the first half before we got a penalty which was clearly handball but apparently FIFA had changed the rules for the fourteenth time that season, so fuck knows if it was or not. Nicky Clark notched before one of the worst open goal misses I have seen (Peter Pawlett's this season at Dunfermline was even worse mind you, still not as bad as one I had for the Auld Hoose pub team in Tayport from a yard out where I was falling back and contrived to put the ball over the bar). Osman Sow had a decent game in this one and had a hand in most of our good play. Robbie Neilson went through a spell of trying to play him into form although this was at the expense of Pavol Safranko who offered far more than Sow and notched the third late on. Paul McMullan was right on form and had become our top performer, even starting to put in some decent crosses. As I said, there was something in the water.
Coll Donaldson getting pelters for 90 minutes straight was, as always, a source of considerable amusement. You could tell that he fucking hates us too and was busting a gut in this game but unfortunately his double decker bus turning circle was to be his undoing as Sow's telegraphed turn was still too much for the blond bombscare to deal with. LOL. The club was heading in the right direction finally. The belief was back and the place was buzzing at the end. Just one last push was required.
6. Dundee United 3-1 Partick Thistle (09/08/16)
4. Dundee United 1-0 Hibs
When thinking back to favourite games some people prefer the hammerings. Me? I prefer the games where you win a war. I quite liked the fact that in our first season in the Championship we were not the biggest fish in the pond. It made the games against Hibs extra-special because I suppose it gave us that feeling of still being involved in proper big games. After a draw in the first game we were starting to catch up with Hibs and had gotten into a good habit of grinding out results usually involving Tony Andreu notching wondergoals or Simon Murray finally scoring after missing about a dozen chances beforehand (gotta be in it to win it though). Cammy Bell had also got into the habit of breaking records too, firstly for the most journeys from the Borders to St Andrews, secondly, by the looks of him, for the most McDonalds visited on the way. Oh, and for eating penalty takers for breakfast. A wee measure of revenge over Hibs after that fat cunt in the goal denied us a comedy gold Scottish Cup Final win over SEVCO 6 months before (OK, it probably would have been a hammering with Mixu trying to hook his own players and Coll Donaldson high-fiving Lee Wallace but you never know).
I could tell this was a big game from how busy the Balmore was before it. It was about 10 deep at the bar and naturally they had about 3 staff on (the same regardless of how busy it is, they are great too). In then end I gave up on trying to get a pint and asked for a bottle of Holsten Pils (more on the weird significance of that later). Our biggest crowd of the season meant that Tannadice was jumping in front of the TV cameras with Hibs supporters clearly expecting to run over the top of us. No fucking dice as the real United turned up for one of Ray McKinnon's best nights as United manager. The facts are this: we played better football than them in the first half, although having Nick Van Der Velden up front meant our link-up play was very good at times (because technically he was a really good player), we lacked a focal point, be that a physical one (which he tried to be but clearly wasn't) or a busy one (which he wasn't either because of his age), we also played with 10 men after Blair Spittal got a head knock and had to go off for about 10 minutes. In the second half they took control however and our lack of an outball was starting to tell. Bearing in mind that this Hibs team contained John McGinn as well as 7 other boys who had either played in the Premiership or become internationals it was understandable. Eventually the pressure told and they got a penalty with Toshney (who else) giving away the foul (he would also get skinned to death at Easter Road and then get sent off the next time against them at Tannadice). However, the place fucking exploded when Cammy Bell saved the ex-Funsters penalty. From then on, you knew there was only going to be one winner. Ray picked the right moment to bring Simon Murray on and we started to stretch them and when Willo Flood had a square go with Grant Holt the energy in our end was unbelievable. After watching 18 months of the entire club waving the white flag at any adversity to see the wee man scrapping with a boy about 3 times his size (who became a professional wrestler after he retired, no shit) lifted the roof off the place and I got a disapproving look from the wee man for my demands that our players should 'fucking go for it'. You could tell Lennon was starting to panic as his antics on the touchline became more and more embarrassing. Durnan and Edge's no-nonsense approach along with Jamie Robson having a brilliant game was starting to tell as they resorted to punts and when Murray ran at them they were shitting themselves and was clumsily brought down for the penalty before he was sure to score. Up stepped the coolest man in Tannadice to stick the penalty away. Magic. The ET Lower winding their goalie up was also good fun in the last 10 minutes as well. The scenes at the end just showed how much the support needed this night.
After the game I commented that the club and support had finally woken up from two years of feeling sorry for themselves. McKinnon said on the tv that we weren't looking for a play-off spot, we wanted to win the league but would need another 3-4 players to do it. The support were lapping it up online. United were back.
One man wasn't listening. He controlled the purse strings unfortunately. Prick.
What a fucking photo btw
Penalties + SCENES
3. Falkirk 1-2 Dundee United (19/05/17) Play-Off Semi Final 2nd Leg
If I let my heart rule my head then this would be number 1. The atmosphere in the United end, the celebrations at both goals and the reaction at the end are among the best I have experienced as a United fan. The most false of false dawns on this list. Every United fan left this one on cloud nine and surely believing we were destined to go up. I sure as hell did. As it turned out, we probably played our cup-final in the semi. It happens. I remember Tayport's win over Auchinleck Talbot in the semi of the Scottish Junior Cup at Firhill in 1993 (one of the best performances I have ever seen at any level) where they looked unstoppable and just never turned up in the final.
The game itself was decent and although not quite as good for the neutrals as the first leg, saw United really step up to the plate in the second half after Falkirk being the better team in the first and taking the lead. I'll admit, I thought we'd get pumped in this game because of the way we had played in the last game there. The second half was the best performance of the McKinnon regime. In particular, Wato Kuate bossed it in midfield (seriously, there was a player in there amongst the ego and the crazyness) whilst Simon Murray had his best game in a United strip as he led the line and ran them ragged. United just kept passing then recycling the ball and we did have the ball in the net only for it to be ruled out for a foul. With time running out, McKinnon gambled and put Scott Fraser on who had broken his foot in the ill-fated previous Falkirk game and had not fully recovered (in fact, it turned out that the operation to pin his foot hadn't been done correctly meaning the screws were actually moving when he was running and kicking the ball which is pretty freaky). However, Fraser came on, hit a worldy of a pass over the top for Spittal to flick on for Murray to equalise, then immediately felt his foot and went off again after a total of 9 minutes on the pitch. United fans may have been crying out for Nicholls to return for years up to this point, unfortunately this was not the pie version which replaced Fraser. However, to give the boy his due, he actually played well when he came on. He looked sharp and determined and was looking to run beyond their now knackered left back. When he received the ball from a throw in Nicholls swivelled, got the ball on his left foot and floated a peach of a cross over. It looked like their defender (Taiwo?) was going to win it, their keeper left it to him then out of nowhere he appeared:
The second coming.
Not fucking finished after all.
A shed boy through and through.
Dickers.
I think I necked with a junkie boy who was sitting next to me, stood on the ankle of the old guy sitting the other side of me. Ran down to the front of the stand then had one of those -SCENE MISSING- moments you used to get in old films. Fuck knows what happened. I wish I had filmed some of it but I dropped my phone the night before out on a walk and only managed to get it back from the Police about 10 minutes before I left for Falkirk and the battery was almost flat. Maybe it's better that way. You can't beat seeing the events yourself rather than through a 4 inch screen.
Next thing I know Wato was running towards the support with his top off and utter mayhem unfolded as people were literally dancing at the front of the stand.
I burst into tears.
We were going up.
Yet again.
Fuck sake.
2. Dundee United 4-1 Inverness Caley Thistle (03/08/19)
The most complete performance on this list, probably better than number 1 (which you've all guessed by now is the 6-0 win over Brechin). What made this a bit more special for me is that I didn't see it coming. In fact, when I saw the team lines I lost my shit online and frankly, had a mare. Nicky Clark at left midfield seemed utterly bizarre and I wasn't slow (as usual) to tell all and sundry that. Tit. This over-reaction was probably more a result of the continuing frustration from our disastrous final Betfred Cup game against East Fife as well as the lack of sigings to address the problems which were glaringly exposed (lack of width, lack of guile, lack of a target man needless passing across the back four slowing our play down and allowing opponents to get back into shape, leaving Shankland isolated and just lumping balls up to him in the end). It is fair to say the supporters were getting really frustrated and Robbie Neilson was under pressure from our end, even if it was clear that he had the full backing of those in power at Tannadice.
There is a reason why pleasant surprises are the best surprises and that is exactly what this performance was. It stood in total contrast to almost everything I had seen so far under Robbie Neilson bar the St Mirren game above at number 5. This is the way I want to see my football played: high tempo, playing football when it is on to play football (i.e. in the right areas), going direct when it is on to go direct (into the corners for wide players to run onto), aiming at a target man (Louis Appere was superb in this and played like a battering ram, Coll Donaldson didn't know what had hit him both in the air and on the deck. The bit early on when he just takes the ball, turns and charges down the middle at their back four was magic and had me on my feet roaring), wide players getting a steady supply of good crosses into the box (all four goals coming from this, a fact highlighted by John Robertson in his post match interview on the radio), the way Clark and Appere interchanged in that wide left role dragging defenders about and creating space for Louis to create number 1 and 3 was a really clever tactic (I think Louis is much more effective being played this way as a number 9.5 rather than an out and out striker or as a wide player), the defenders not fucking about (Connolly in particular had a great game both dealing with Jordan White and in terms of his distribution). Considering it was the first day of the league season (which we don't have a great record in) against our main rival for the Championship, it was just a brilliant 90 minute performance.
And that's before we get to the performance of Shankland. The ability to find space in the box, the ability to pull off defenders for his goals were something else but what I and I think everyone else around me were most astonished about was his touch and his lay-offs when balls were played up to him. I spent most of the game oohing and aaahing at his every touch (best I've seen since Duncan Ferguson) to the point where Alex got fed up of me saying 'look at that' and 'did you see his touch there?' and simply said, 'Right dad, I get it, he's good'. Understatement of the year. He's not good. He's MAGIC. The Man of the Year.
On the way out at the end I saw Coll Donaldson staggering about looking lost and had to point him back towards the pitch after Shanks sent him so far the wrong way at the 4th goal he ended up in North Isla Street.
I drove straight through to Dunfermline after the game to meet an old uni buddy who now lives in China but was back for the week and having a night out. In the Viceroy Curry House the drinks were flowing and Cammy told us how in China on nights out they all stand up one-by-one and loudly do a toast (the raise your glasses variety) and would we be up for it. He did a very profoud one about time and making the most of seeing old friends again. of course no-one else was keen to do it out of our natural sterility in the this country, so I thought I'd better save his blushes. I stood up and declared a toast 'To Lawrence Shankland! And whatever money you think he's on, it's probably double that, or at least it should be.' And that was that.
Honourable Mentions
There were a few games that I attended which didn't quite make the final list and there were some which I didn't go to which some people might argue are in their top tens. Personally, the Livingston game which finished 3-0 where Fyvie got injured in was a really good Csaba team display where we scored a team goal that was absolutely magnificent (strarting from the keeper, into the defence,the midfield, back, then into Billy King, then Scott Fraser, then out to Jamie Robson who cuts the ball back for McDonald to score). I can't find a video of it too which is annoying (Edit: Just appeared on my Xmas day feed!). The Lawrie Ellis-led St Mirren 2-1 game was a great performance as well where the scoreline really flattered them. Tbh it was a minter finishing behind them, they were pretty pish apart from Morgan and the Smiths. The 6-0 win at Brechin was a good ruthless performance although we should have been losing at half-time. Of course the 2-0 win at Dens this season was a great night but the first half was chronic which kept it off the list. In terms of games I missed the Queen of the South win in McKinnon's first season 4-1 might be on some people's lists as may a Fraser Fyvie-inspired 3-1 win at Dunfermline the following season and a couple of wins up in Inverness and a win up at Ross County. Anyway, at least there have been some decent wins along the way as well as the dross. None as good as this though:
1. Dundee United 6 -2 Dundee (30/08/19)
It wasn't going to be anything else was it? The night we had all been waiting for. The club and support FINALLY did waken up after the nightmare which started on January 31st, 2015 (one of the six most significant moments in the last decade of Scottish football according to Four-Four-Two magazine). The fact it was against Dundee made it even more significant, but not the be all and end-all. In fact at the end of the Dunfermline game the week before I had the feeling this could be our year. The Balmore was the most packed I have ever seen it before the game and of course the lager ran out so I ended up getting a couple of bottles of Holsten Pils (I never drink this any other time but whenever I do United seem to pull great results out of the bag). Tannadice packed, a fantastic atmosphere which, with the growth in VLOG's where punters (usually neutrals) just visit games and film and comment on them shone a light on the Dundee Derby like never before and appeared to surprise a lot of people about how passionate and raucous it can get just made it the perfect night.
The game itself is covered in much more detail here but basically panned out like: an even and frantic first 15 minutes, they started to get on top, scored a goal which was offside (even though it wasn't), their support drowned in the sea of sperm that was generated when the ball went in, my young lad spotted the flag up before anyone else in the ground and jumped up with joy, everyone started pishing themselves laughing, we go up and score number 1, they then score the equaliser but because they shot their collective loads earlier, the celebrations were more like winning the Euro's rather than the World Cup, Mark Connolly gets injured, the tide turns as we adjust personel and tactics, Louis scores a peach, McMullan takes a WWE spear, penalty, Shanks scores, Jordon Forster flogs a corner needlessly, Butcher then scores again, carnage ensues, their end empties before halftime.
Second half starts, Ian Harkes decides to impress the Funsters by re-enacting that photo of Dee's legend Billy Steel where he looks like he is flying through the air and blasts in number 5, the fire alarm goes off in the away end, there is then a lull of about 20 minutes, they score a consolation, we take Shankland off, Louis goes up front and we start catching them on the break, Cammy Smith scores number six (nice to know a lad who got a pretty raw deal by United has his name in the history books), he then scores number 7 but it gets ruled out, I then spot that Willie Miller has stated that Dundee have been the better team and about pish my pants with laughter. 6-2. The end. Magic.
I said in another blog that when a dog finally catches the car it's been chasing, it has no fucking idea what to do with it or what to do next.
Well on this night that car turned around. And ran the little fucker over repeatedly.
We went top this season on day one. We've never moved. I want us to finish the job, even if it means a shortened season following on from the resumption of this one (3 rounds of games and one or no cups? A return to a knockout format for European competitions for one season only? One round of games in the EPL with a league split of top and bottom 10 to cut their season down?) Make no mistake though, we are top and if it is decalred, then we should be the Champions. As long as I get my hospo at the Ayr game I don't give a fuck.
The only way is up.... Maybe.
It me and flu now.
Don't catch any bugs x
What keeps us all going as football fans? The days when your team turns it on that's what. As United fans you could argue we were spoilt in the first half of this decade. The second half of the Bipolar Years were slim pickings unfortunately. However, the all-to-rare great wins and performances would spark real excitement in the stands and online after a match. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I have seen the, "United are back," and, "We look like title winners this time," comments appear after a good result and performance. I probably posted a few of them. Let's face it, we've ran out of straws to clutch in the past four years. Anyway you can’t have the rough without the smooth so after the doom-laden last entry, this one will hopefully lighten the lockdown for a wee while. Same as ‘The Worst of Times’ this is ONLY based on games I either attended or watched live on television or streams from my VPN bolt-hole in the Netherlands ;-) .
10. Dundee United 3-0 Falkirk (19/11/17)
The sole Csaba Laszlo-era entry on here is his first league game and by a distance 'his team's' best performance. If you could call it his team. This one came on the back of two much improved performances under Caretaker Manager Lawrie Ellis against Dumbarton away (a win FFS) and St Mirren (which narrowly missed out on this list). In both games the players played at a considerably higher tempo than under Ray McKinnon and looked relieved that the tactical straightjacket that the previous manager had imposed on them had been lifted. In many ways, Ray was the complete opposite of Jackie McNamara who appeared to send his teams out with minimal direction, no instructions on how to stop the opposition and instead just told them to believe they were better and go out and beat whatever was in front of them. Ray on the other hand appeared obsessed with shape and stopping the opposition from playing to the exclusion of everything else. The players always looked completely overburdened by tactics and were clearly not good enough to both implement them and also try to play their own game hence why nothing ever looked free-flowing (apart from game number 6 on here). Neither approach IMHO is the correct one and eventually you'll either got stopped by a wily fox like Tommy Wright or be taken apart by someone who just comes out and has a go like Neil Lennon or Peter Houston. Therefore, it is difficult to entirely give Csaba the credit for this victory since Ellis did appear to take the shackles off the players which carried over into this match although based on players interviews after the game it is clear that there were certain tactical adjustments Csaba made which aided this victory. Within about three months, exactly the same criticisms of Ray's United team could be levelled at Laszlo's, only worse.
United's passing in this game was outstanding and we seemed to have extra men all over the park. Laszlo encouraged the full backs to push much higher up the pitch meaning we often had up to 9 players involved in forward moves. The tempo was great too (following criticisms Csaba made after the awful Challenge Cup defeat the week before in Laszlo's 'other' debut against Crusaders, albeit with a fringe team). The big bonus here was that Fraser Fyvie had returned from injury and a mini pre-season (he had played earlier in the League Cup but looked more like Fraser Fatty). Suddenly United had someone who would and could take the ball off the centre halves in any situation and be able to turn, get his head up and make passes, usually to Scott Fraser in the number 10 role. These two really bounced off each other and it is likely that had they remained fit that we'd have made much more of a challenge that season, despite Laszlo. This was one-way traffic throughout and was superb to watch as United rained-shots on Falkirk's goal. In fact, the 3-0 scoreline is the only reason why this is a place behind the game at number 9 (Fyvie alone should have scored 3 but for their keeper). Both games also featured opponents who were absolutely abysmal. New manager Paul (Pep) Hartley was still dining out on a game which happened about 18 months before (the last time he had a wash by the looks of it), which didn't win him any leagues or cups (unless you count commemorative mugs that is) and had succeeded in fucking up Peter Houston's team within a few weeks. A wee measure of revenge and a superb Willo Flood goal after a great flowing move capped a great day. There would be no coming back for Falkirk after taking such a pasting of course... I went into work the next day and declared to the Dee's there that we looked like champions.
"Hands up if you're top of the league?"
Dearie me.
10. Dundee United 3-0 Falkirk (19/11/17)
The sole Csaba Laszlo-era entry on here is his first league game and by a distance 'his team's' best performance. If you could call it his team. This one came on the back of two much improved performances under Caretaker Manager Lawrie Ellis against Dumbarton away (a win FFS) and St Mirren (which narrowly missed out on this list). In both games the players played at a considerably higher tempo than under Ray McKinnon and looked relieved that the tactical straightjacket that the previous manager had imposed on them had been lifted. In many ways, Ray was the complete opposite of Jackie McNamara who appeared to send his teams out with minimal direction, no instructions on how to stop the opposition and instead just told them to believe they were better and go out and beat whatever was in front of them. Ray on the other hand appeared obsessed with shape and stopping the opposition from playing to the exclusion of everything else. The players always looked completely overburdened by tactics and were clearly not good enough to both implement them and also try to play their own game hence why nothing ever looked free-flowing (apart from game number 6 on here). Neither approach IMHO is the correct one and eventually you'll either got stopped by a wily fox like Tommy Wright or be taken apart by someone who just comes out and has a go like Neil Lennon or Peter Houston. Therefore, it is difficult to entirely give Csaba the credit for this victory since Ellis did appear to take the shackles off the players which carried over into this match although based on players interviews after the game it is clear that there were certain tactical adjustments Csaba made which aided this victory. Within about three months, exactly the same criticisms of Ray's United team could be levelled at Laszlo's, only worse.
United's passing in this game was outstanding and we seemed to have extra men all over the park. Laszlo encouraged the full backs to push much higher up the pitch meaning we often had up to 9 players involved in forward moves. The tempo was great too (following criticisms Csaba made after the awful Challenge Cup defeat the week before in Laszlo's 'other' debut against Crusaders, albeit with a fringe team). The big bonus here was that Fraser Fyvie had returned from injury and a mini pre-season (he had played earlier in the League Cup but looked more like Fraser Fatty). Suddenly United had someone who would and could take the ball off the centre halves in any situation and be able to turn, get his head up and make passes, usually to Scott Fraser in the number 10 role. These two really bounced off each other and it is likely that had they remained fit that we'd have made much more of a challenge that season, despite Laszlo. This was one-way traffic throughout and was superb to watch as United rained-shots on Falkirk's goal. In fact, the 3-0 scoreline is the only reason why this is a place behind the game at number 9 (Fyvie alone should have scored 3 but for their keeper). Both games also featured opponents who were absolutely abysmal. New manager Paul (Pep) Hartley was still dining out on a game which happened about 18 months before (the last time he had a wash by the looks of it), which didn't win him any leagues or cups (unless you count commemorative mugs that is) and had succeeded in fucking up Peter Houston's team within a few weeks. A wee measure of revenge and a superb Willo Flood goal after a great flowing move capped a great day. There would be no coming back for Falkirk after taking such a pasting of course... I went into work the next day and declared to the Dee's there that we looked like champions.
"Hands up if you're top of the league?"
Dearie me.
9. Dundee United 6-0 Morton (28/09/19)
In terms of entertaining, attacking football this is the best performance on this list. United started fast and just never let-up. The much sought-after 90 minute performance. After playing our get out of jail free card the previous week against Arbroath after a turgid 89 minutes of football you could tell that the players were well up for this one. In the Championship, it is clear that if United score at home within the first few minutes then the opposition game plan goes out of the window, particularly if you are playing against the smaller teams. Against Arbroath, everyone was cursing the 4-2-3-1 formation and yet in the Morton game it worked perfectly. It is amazing the difference playing with intent actually has. We even managed it with Paul Watson playing right back and Liam Smith playing at left back (he had a decent game actually which lulled us into a false sense of security for the two weeks that followed). We even won with Peter Pawlett playing. In fact it was probably his best game in a United shirt (or his only decent game in United shirt depending on your point of view). After a blazing first 15 minutes there was a bit of a lull until before half time when Paul McMullan scored a cracking goal with a run started from a Smith clearance. The second half, especially late on saw us really step-up a few gears with Shankland scoring a mazy which started in his own half and Logan Chalmers getting a decent goal as well.
However, what I would say about this one, was that Morton are by quite a distance, the worst team I have seen since we were relegated including lower league teams we have played in the cups like Montrose, Cowdenbeath as well as Brechin in the league. Ancient, slow as fuck, no attacking flair and devoid of any belief or tactics whatsoever. Full of boys like Sutton, Millar, McAllister, Baird, McLean all there for a last wage. Pretty sad really. That is why this game only sits at number 9. In fact, I have seen Brechin Vics Juniors this season and they were better than Morton were that day, no joke. Still, you can only beat the team that's put in front of you and even I can't grumble when we score 6 goals. I just wish we could show that movement and tempo more often. Its the thing fans want more than anything else.
8. Dundee United 2-1 St Mirren (25/03/2017) Irn Bru Cup Final
There are two ways of looking at this one:
1. This is a Mickey Mouse Cup and winning it is an embarrassment because your clubs good name is forever associated with being relegated forcing you to play in it. It's not even as if all the teams in it take it seriously, loads of teams play fringe players in it especially in the early rounds so it's not even a level playing field especially if your team is playing its strongest line-up in all the rounds. It was a massive mistake for us to do this because in contributed to the fatigue which eventually caught up with us in the play-off final. To make matters worse the tournament has become farcical with the addition of Welsh (and now Irish, English and Colt) teams. Before the game it became something of a badge of honour to not go to this final and people seemed to be quite proud that our end was less than half-full in the final.
Or,
2. Winning a cup is not an everyday occurrence for United and the fact is, you can only beat what is put in front of you. We did rotate our squad during this tournament (although not as much as I'd have liked) with the Dunfermline game giving some of younger players like Ali Coote (who would retain his place for much of the season that followed including in this final) a chance. Plenty of Arabs with kids, like me will remember this game fondly because it is the first time their kids have seen United lift a trophy. Seeing his face light up at the presentation was worth a bit of embarrassment. The online cynics had a great night too as it turned out, trolling the fuck out of St Mirren supporters and Rory Loy who appeared to have placed their hopes and dreams on winning this cup and had been slagging United's support at the game.
The game itself was decent and although they probably shaded the first half we scored the goal of the season and one of the best United cup final goals through Andreu (tbf there is plenty of competition on that front, United have scored some beauties in cup finals over the years) and then switched off completely to let them equalise before the celebrations had even died down in our end (I was behind the goal) through the ex-Funster of course. To give Ray some credit though, his substitution taking Van der Velden (had done nothing) and putting on Thomas Mikkelsen then switching him and Simon Murray changed the game in our favour. We took control of the game and Murray and Dixon linked up really well down the left hand side with Mikkelsen's peach of a header coming from one of their crosses. Happy days.
Oh and Stewart Murdoch played at right back for the first time (leading to Frank Van der Struijk taking the huff and falling out with McKinnon seemingly) and Coll Donaldson came on as a subby in the last 5 minutes and played quite well in a sort of header anything and everything that gets in your road kind of way. And, the rumour was that Wato was going to start. Imagine the SCENES if he'd played here??? Full scale riots on the park most likely.
Its the only cup won by United I've had my hands on actually. It's a wee version of the Championship trophy. Lovely stuff. Better saviour the memory, because it doesn't look like I'll get my hands on the real thing anytime soon.
7. Dundee United 3-0 Inverness Caley Thistle (17/05/19) Play-Off Semi Final 2nd Leg
A win on the TV! Osman Sow scoring a goal!! The 'Ehm no goin back' brigade starting to return to Tannadice!!! United had well and truly entered the Twilight Zone. This was it. We were going up surely? This was a cracking game which could have gone either way despite the scoreline. They had their chances and Benji had a cracking save in the first half before we got a penalty which was clearly handball but apparently FIFA had changed the rules for the fourteenth time that season, so fuck knows if it was or not. Nicky Clark notched before one of the worst open goal misses I have seen (Peter Pawlett's this season at Dunfermline was even worse mind you, still not as bad as one I had for the Auld Hoose pub team in Tayport from a yard out where I was falling back and contrived to put the ball over the bar). Osman Sow had a decent game in this one and had a hand in most of our good play. Robbie Neilson went through a spell of trying to play him into form although this was at the expense of Pavol Safranko who offered far more than Sow and notched the third late on. Paul McMullan was right on form and had become our top performer, even starting to put in some decent crosses. As I said, there was something in the water.
Coll Donaldson getting pelters for 90 minutes straight was, as always, a source of considerable amusement. You could tell that he fucking hates us too and was busting a gut in this game but unfortunately his double decker bus turning circle was to be his undoing as Sow's telegraphed turn was still too much for the blond bombscare to deal with. LOL. The club was heading in the right direction finally. The belief was back and the place was buzzing at the end. Just one last push was required.
6. Dundee United 3-1 Partick Thistle (09/08/16)
Its either telling or damning depending on how you look at things that this game still sticks out in the memory of great post-relegation performances despite being less than a month into our four year stint in the Fundesliga. This game became something of a standing joke amongst Arabs for two reasons: i) United’s brilliant attacking display which stood in total contrast to most of the other McKinnon-era performances and ii) It was where Cammy Smith really took a game. The thing is, it most certainly does deserve it’s place in this list in a respectable 6th place in my eyes. Given that we were playing in the League Cup against a team a league above us who would go on to finish in the top 6 that season in the Premiership, the first half performance was the equal of anything else on this list. Simply sensational in fact. On the front-foot from the off, fantastic movement all over the park particularly from the ‘3’ in the much maligned 4-2-3-1 formation of Scott Fraser, Cammy Smith and Blair Spittal playing at a pace which our higher league opponents could not get anywhere close to. Tope Obedeyi playing up front was excellent too (a position he was hardly ever used in again) in either running at defenders or taking balls into feet then feeding Fraser or Spittal playing as inverted wingers who appeared to delight in running and taking on 2-3 defenders at a time. Meanwhile, Cammy Smith was like fucking Messi and looked like he’d waited all his life to finally be given the chance to play in the first team for someone as a number 10. The timing of his runs and on this night and his telepathic understanding with Fraser, Spttial and Obedeyi meant he was getting beyond Thistle at will. Why was a star not born that night? Why was he virtually NEVER used in that role from the start ever by TWO different managers at United despite winning the player of the year award playing for St Mirren mostly in that role? It is a real mystery. You could argue Tony Andreu and Nicky Clark were better and more effective players but what is frustrating is that in both of Smith's spells at United we could have done with him but had allowed him to leave; firstly when Andreu went completely off the boil towards the end of that 2015-16 season and we had let Smith go in January, then again this season following Clark's injury. Anyway, another positive in this game was the defence (Bell, Toshney, Durnan, Donaldson, Robson with Murdoch and Flood in front of them) which looked resolute under pressure in the second half, not something which United fans had been used to after a season of defensive late capitulations during the relegation season.
Walking out of this game I can’t have been the only one who thought that this team was a shoe-in to get promoted. I was even starting to think we might do it with a bit of style. After the horrors of the previous season to get a reminder that going to the football is actually enjoyable was great for me and particularly my young lad who’s first season ticket came in the relegation season. It was a great night and is well deserving of its spot on here.
United destroy Partick
5. St Mirren 1-2 Dundee United
Now we're talking. This was United kicking ass and taking names. Well, for the first hour anyway until The Butcher took things a bit too literally and near decapitated some boy. The much-needed boost of Mark Ogren's dollars meant United had went into this game with 7 new players starting in some cases only their second game along with 4 new players on the bench (or 3 new players and the corpse of Jimmy Gomis resurrected to give the fans a boost). Thankfully the new regime's contacts (sorry) appeared to be better than the old regime's and no Emil Lyng's were present, only his injury-prone Swedish equivalent. The first half was brilliant. Controlled, fast paced, rock-solid, positive if a bit profligate since we could and should have been at least 4 up by half time. This was a pleasure to watch (I watched it online) and we were properly jumping around the living room at both goals: the first coming after wave after wave of attacks until they just appeared to crumble under the pressure. As for the second: OYF. My favourite goal of the Banter Years. I retweet it every time it pops up on YouTube or on Twitter. Nicky Clark's finish is absolutely cool as fuck and the SCENES in the away end as it goes in are just gold (not as good as the SCENES in my living room mind you). Although we were under a bit of pressure after the red card and did lose a late goal the new look defence looked really comfortable throughout. Even St Mirren's manager said after it that we looked like the Premier League team. Why we didn't adopt this approach in the two legs of the play-off final against them is still a major source of annoyance. Yes, they were better organised but they were no threat whatsoever. We should have been fist pumping blowing the cunts away, not a turgid grind through 90 minutes and extra-time where at no stage did we actually go for it. McKinnon's team were out on their feet at Hamilton (a far better team than St Mirren were) and still had a go in both games. Anyway, that's a story for another day. This Scottish Cup performance had me begging for more. The video is below, sit back and enjoy the way United should play:
5. St Mirren 1-2 Dundee United
Now we're talking. This was United kicking ass and taking names. Well, for the first hour anyway until The Butcher took things a bit too literally and near decapitated some boy. The much-needed boost of Mark Ogren's dollars meant United had went into this game with 7 new players starting in some cases only their second game along with 4 new players on the bench (or 3 new players and the corpse of Jimmy Gomis resurrected to give the fans a boost). Thankfully the new regime's contacts (sorry) appeared to be better than the old regime's and no Emil Lyng's were present, only his injury-prone Swedish equivalent. The first half was brilliant. Controlled, fast paced, rock-solid, positive if a bit profligate since we could and should have been at least 4 up by half time. This was a pleasure to watch (I watched it online) and we were properly jumping around the living room at both goals: the first coming after wave after wave of attacks until they just appeared to crumble under the pressure. As for the second: OYF. My favourite goal of the Banter Years. I retweet it every time it pops up on YouTube or on Twitter. Nicky Clark's finish is absolutely cool as fuck and the SCENES in the away end as it goes in are just gold (not as good as the SCENES in my living room mind you). Although we were under a bit of pressure after the red card and did lose a late goal the new look defence looked really comfortable throughout. Even St Mirren's manager said after it that we looked like the Premier League team. Why we didn't adopt this approach in the two legs of the play-off final against them is still a major source of annoyance. Yes, they were better organised but they were no threat whatsoever. We should have been fist pumping blowing the cunts away, not a turgid grind through 90 minutes and extra-time where at no stage did we actually go for it. McKinnon's team were out on their feet at Hamilton (a far better team than St Mirren were) and still had a go in both games. Anyway, that's a story for another day. This Scottish Cup performance had me begging for more. The video is below, sit back and enjoy the way United should play:
4. Dundee United 1-0 Hibs
When thinking back to favourite games some people prefer the hammerings. Me? I prefer the games where you win a war. I quite liked the fact that in our first season in the Championship we were not the biggest fish in the pond. It made the games against Hibs extra-special because I suppose it gave us that feeling of still being involved in proper big games. After a draw in the first game we were starting to catch up with Hibs and had gotten into a good habit of grinding out results usually involving Tony Andreu notching wondergoals or Simon Murray finally scoring after missing about a dozen chances beforehand (gotta be in it to win it though). Cammy Bell had also got into the habit of breaking records too, firstly for the most journeys from the Borders to St Andrews, secondly, by the looks of him, for the most McDonalds visited on the way. Oh, and for eating penalty takers for breakfast. A wee measure of revenge over Hibs after that fat cunt in the goal denied us a comedy gold Scottish Cup Final win over SEVCO 6 months before (OK, it probably would have been a hammering with Mixu trying to hook his own players and Coll Donaldson high-fiving Lee Wallace but you never know).
I could tell this was a big game from how busy the Balmore was before it. It was about 10 deep at the bar and naturally they had about 3 staff on (the same regardless of how busy it is, they are great too). In then end I gave up on trying to get a pint and asked for a bottle of Holsten Pils (more on the weird significance of that later). Our biggest crowd of the season meant that Tannadice was jumping in front of the TV cameras with Hibs supporters clearly expecting to run over the top of us. No fucking dice as the real United turned up for one of Ray McKinnon's best nights as United manager. The facts are this: we played better football than them in the first half, although having Nick Van Der Velden up front meant our link-up play was very good at times (because technically he was a really good player), we lacked a focal point, be that a physical one (which he tried to be but clearly wasn't) or a busy one (which he wasn't either because of his age), we also played with 10 men after Blair Spittal got a head knock and had to go off for about 10 minutes. In the second half they took control however and our lack of an outball was starting to tell. Bearing in mind that this Hibs team contained John McGinn as well as 7 other boys who had either played in the Premiership or become internationals it was understandable. Eventually the pressure told and they got a penalty with Toshney (who else) giving away the foul (he would also get skinned to death at Easter Road and then get sent off the next time against them at Tannadice). However, the place fucking exploded when Cammy Bell saved the ex-Funsters penalty. From then on, you knew there was only going to be one winner. Ray picked the right moment to bring Simon Murray on and we started to stretch them and when Willo Flood had a square go with Grant Holt the energy in our end was unbelievable. After watching 18 months of the entire club waving the white flag at any adversity to see the wee man scrapping with a boy about 3 times his size (who became a professional wrestler after he retired, no shit) lifted the roof off the place and I got a disapproving look from the wee man for my demands that our players should 'fucking go for it'. You could tell Lennon was starting to panic as his antics on the touchline became more and more embarrassing. Durnan and Edge's no-nonsense approach along with Jamie Robson having a brilliant game was starting to tell as they resorted to punts and when Murray ran at them they were shitting themselves and was clumsily brought down for the penalty before he was sure to score. Up stepped the coolest man in Tannadice to stick the penalty away. Magic. The ET Lower winding their goalie up was also good fun in the last 10 minutes as well. The scenes at the end just showed how much the support needed this night.
After the game I commented that the club and support had finally woken up from two years of feeling sorry for themselves. McKinnon said on the tv that we weren't looking for a play-off spot, we wanted to win the league but would need another 3-4 players to do it. The support were lapping it up online. United were back.
One man wasn't listening. He controlled the purse strings unfortunately. Prick.
What a fucking photo btw
Penalties + SCENES
3. Falkirk 1-2 Dundee United (19/05/17) Play-Off Semi Final 2nd Leg
If I let my heart rule my head then this would be number 1. The atmosphere in the United end, the celebrations at both goals and the reaction at the end are among the best I have experienced as a United fan. The most false of false dawns on this list. Every United fan left this one on cloud nine and surely believing we were destined to go up. I sure as hell did. As it turned out, we probably played our cup-final in the semi. It happens. I remember Tayport's win over Auchinleck Talbot in the semi of the Scottish Junior Cup at Firhill in 1993 (one of the best performances I have ever seen at any level) where they looked unstoppable and just never turned up in the final.
The game itself was decent and although not quite as good for the neutrals as the first leg, saw United really step up to the plate in the second half after Falkirk being the better team in the first and taking the lead. I'll admit, I thought we'd get pumped in this game because of the way we had played in the last game there. The second half was the best performance of the McKinnon regime. In particular, Wato Kuate bossed it in midfield (seriously, there was a player in there amongst the ego and the crazyness) whilst Simon Murray had his best game in a United strip as he led the line and ran them ragged. United just kept passing then recycling the ball and we did have the ball in the net only for it to be ruled out for a foul. With time running out, McKinnon gambled and put Scott Fraser on who had broken his foot in the ill-fated previous Falkirk game and had not fully recovered (in fact, it turned out that the operation to pin his foot hadn't been done correctly meaning the screws were actually moving when he was running and kicking the ball which is pretty freaky). However, Fraser came on, hit a worldy of a pass over the top for Spittal to flick on for Murray to equalise, then immediately felt his foot and went off again after a total of 9 minutes on the pitch. United fans may have been crying out for Nicholls to return for years up to this point, unfortunately this was not the pie version which replaced Fraser. However, to give the boy his due, he actually played well when he came on. He looked sharp and determined and was looking to run beyond their now knackered left back. When he received the ball from a throw in Nicholls swivelled, got the ball on his left foot and floated a peach of a cross over. It looked like their defender (Taiwo?) was going to win it, their keeper left it to him then out of nowhere he appeared:
The second coming.
Not fucking finished after all.
A shed boy through and through.
Dickers.
I think I necked with a junkie boy who was sitting next to me, stood on the ankle of the old guy sitting the other side of me. Ran down to the front of the stand then had one of those -SCENE MISSING- moments you used to get in old films. Fuck knows what happened. I wish I had filmed some of it but I dropped my phone the night before out on a walk and only managed to get it back from the Police about 10 minutes before I left for Falkirk and the battery was almost flat. Maybe it's better that way. You can't beat seeing the events yourself rather than through a 4 inch screen.
Next thing I know Wato was running towards the support with his top off and utter mayhem unfolded as people were literally dancing at the front of the stand.
I burst into tears.
We were going up.
Yet again.
Fuck sake.
2. Dundee United 4-1 Inverness Caley Thistle (03/08/19)
The most complete performance on this list, probably better than number 1 (which you've all guessed by now is the 6-0 win over Brechin). What made this a bit more special for me is that I didn't see it coming. In fact, when I saw the team lines I lost my shit online and frankly, had a mare. Nicky Clark at left midfield seemed utterly bizarre and I wasn't slow (as usual) to tell all and sundry that. Tit. This over-reaction was probably more a result of the continuing frustration from our disastrous final Betfred Cup game against East Fife as well as the lack of sigings to address the problems which were glaringly exposed (lack of width, lack of guile, lack of a target man needless passing across the back four slowing our play down and allowing opponents to get back into shape, leaving Shankland isolated and just lumping balls up to him in the end). It is fair to say the supporters were getting really frustrated and Robbie Neilson was under pressure from our end, even if it was clear that he had the full backing of those in power at Tannadice.
There is a reason why pleasant surprises are the best surprises and that is exactly what this performance was. It stood in total contrast to almost everything I had seen so far under Robbie Neilson bar the St Mirren game above at number 5. This is the way I want to see my football played: high tempo, playing football when it is on to play football (i.e. in the right areas), going direct when it is on to go direct (into the corners for wide players to run onto), aiming at a target man (Louis Appere was superb in this and played like a battering ram, Coll Donaldson didn't know what had hit him both in the air and on the deck. The bit early on when he just takes the ball, turns and charges down the middle at their back four was magic and had me on my feet roaring), wide players getting a steady supply of good crosses into the box (all four goals coming from this, a fact highlighted by John Robertson in his post match interview on the radio), the way Clark and Appere interchanged in that wide left role dragging defenders about and creating space for Louis to create number 1 and 3 was a really clever tactic (I think Louis is much more effective being played this way as a number 9.5 rather than an out and out striker or as a wide player), the defenders not fucking about (Connolly in particular had a great game both dealing with Jordan White and in terms of his distribution). Considering it was the first day of the league season (which we don't have a great record in) against our main rival for the Championship, it was just a brilliant 90 minute performance.
And that's before we get to the performance of Shankland. The ability to find space in the box, the ability to pull off defenders for his goals were something else but what I and I think everyone else around me were most astonished about was his touch and his lay-offs when balls were played up to him. I spent most of the game oohing and aaahing at his every touch (best I've seen since Duncan Ferguson) to the point where Alex got fed up of me saying 'look at that' and 'did you see his touch there?' and simply said, 'Right dad, I get it, he's good'. Understatement of the year. He's not good. He's MAGIC. The Man of the Year.
On the way out at the end I saw Coll Donaldson staggering about looking lost and had to point him back towards the pitch after Shanks sent him so far the wrong way at the 4th goal he ended up in North Isla Street.
I drove straight through to Dunfermline after the game to meet an old uni buddy who now lives in China but was back for the week and having a night out. In the Viceroy Curry House the drinks were flowing and Cammy told us how in China on nights out they all stand up one-by-one and loudly do a toast (the raise your glasses variety) and would we be up for it. He did a very profoud one about time and making the most of seeing old friends again. of course no-one else was keen to do it out of our natural sterility in the this country, so I thought I'd better save his blushes. I stood up and declared a toast 'To Lawrence Shankland! And whatever money you think he's on, it's probably double that, or at least it should be.' And that was that.
Honourable Mentions
There were a few games that I attended which didn't quite make the final list and there were some which I didn't go to which some people might argue are in their top tens. Personally, the Livingston game which finished 3-0 where Fyvie got injured in was a really good Csaba team display where we scored a team goal that was absolutely magnificent (strarting from the keeper, into the defence,the midfield, back, then into Billy King, then Scott Fraser, then out to Jamie Robson who cuts the ball back for McDonald to score). I can't find a video of it too which is annoying (Edit: Just appeared on my Xmas day feed!). The Lawrie Ellis-led St Mirren 2-1 game was a great performance as well where the scoreline really flattered them. Tbh it was a minter finishing behind them, they were pretty pish apart from Morgan and the Smiths. The 6-0 win at Brechin was a good ruthless performance although we should have been losing at half-time. Of course the 2-0 win at Dens this season was a great night but the first half was chronic which kept it off the list. In terms of games I missed the Queen of the South win in McKinnon's first season 4-1 might be on some people's lists as may a Fraser Fyvie-inspired 3-1 win at Dunfermline the following season and a couple of wins up in Inverness and a win up at Ross County. Anyway, at least there have been some decent wins along the way as well as the dross. None as good as this though:
1. Dundee United 6 -2 Dundee (30/08/19)
It wasn't going to be anything else was it? The night we had all been waiting for. The club and support FINALLY did waken up after the nightmare which started on January 31st, 2015 (one of the six most significant moments in the last decade of Scottish football according to Four-Four-Two magazine). The fact it was against Dundee made it even more significant, but not the be all and end-all. In fact at the end of the Dunfermline game the week before I had the feeling this could be our year. The Balmore was the most packed I have ever seen it before the game and of course the lager ran out so I ended up getting a couple of bottles of Holsten Pils (I never drink this any other time but whenever I do United seem to pull great results out of the bag). Tannadice packed, a fantastic atmosphere which, with the growth in VLOG's where punters (usually neutrals) just visit games and film and comment on them shone a light on the Dundee Derby like never before and appeared to surprise a lot of people about how passionate and raucous it can get just made it the perfect night.
The game itself is covered in much more detail here but basically panned out like: an even and frantic first 15 minutes, they started to get on top, scored a goal which was offside (even though it wasn't), their support drowned in the sea of sperm that was generated when the ball went in, my young lad spotted the flag up before anyone else in the ground and jumped up with joy, everyone started pishing themselves laughing, we go up and score number 1, they then score the equaliser but because they shot their collective loads earlier, the celebrations were more like winning the Euro's rather than the World Cup, Mark Connolly gets injured, the tide turns as we adjust personel and tactics, Louis scores a peach, McMullan takes a WWE spear, penalty, Shanks scores, Jordon Forster flogs a corner needlessly, Butcher then scores again, carnage ensues, their end empties before halftime.
Second half starts, Ian Harkes decides to impress the Funsters by re-enacting that photo of Dee's legend Billy Steel where he looks like he is flying through the air and blasts in number 5, the fire alarm goes off in the away end, there is then a lull of about 20 minutes, they score a consolation, we take Shankland off, Louis goes up front and we start catching them on the break, Cammy Smith scores number six (nice to know a lad who got a pretty raw deal by United has his name in the history books), he then scores number 7 but it gets ruled out, I then spot that Willie Miller has stated that Dundee have been the better team and about pish my pants with laughter. 6-2. The end. Magic.
I said in another blog that when a dog finally catches the car it's been chasing, it has no fucking idea what to do with it or what to do next.
Well on this night that car turned around. And ran the little fucker over repeatedly.
We went top this season on day one. We've never moved. I want us to finish the job, even if it means a shortened season following on from the resumption of this one (3 rounds of games and one or no cups? A return to a knockout format for European competitions for one season only? One round of games in the EPL with a league split of top and bottom 10 to cut their season down?) Make no mistake though, we are top and if it is decalred, then we should be the Champions. As long as I get my hospo at the Ayr game I don't give a fuck.
The only way is up.... Maybe.
It me and flu now.
Don't catch any bugs x
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