Jim Goodwin heaped praise on "brillaint" Zac Sapsford as he helped dominant Dundee United to victory in the Tayside derby against winless Dundee.

The striker was allowed too much time in the area to sweep his side into a first-half lead that they seldom looked like relinquishing as they remain unbeaten in the league at Dens Park since 2016.

A stop-start second half was not always conducive to free-flowing football, but the game was effectively over when Ivan Dolcek blasted in from close range to double the visitors' lead 15 minutes from time.

Sapsford was reinstated to the United starting line-up after a spell out injured after picking up a knock against Rapid Vienna.

"Zac's only trained yesterday for the first time in two weeks and I've got to give him so much credit for the character that he's got," Goodwin told BBC Scotland.

"There are a number of other players who maybe wouldn't play through the pain barrier like he did today.

"You see that an awful lot now in the modern-day game, where guys need to be 100%, but the boy has been brilliant since he's come into the club. What a terrific signing he's been.

"What an unbelievable start to his Dundee United career he's had both Europe and domestically.

"His goal contributions have been brilliant, and our supporters have really taken to him because he gives absolutely everything for the jersey, never stops running".

Goodwin also revealed this week that the club put a heavy emphasis on the derby when giving new recruits a presentation on the club. Given that nine of their starting XI were new this season, it was clear they were all up for it from the off.

An early Will Ferry tackle was met with fist pumps and cheers from the travelling support as United hemmed Dundee inside their defensive third for large swathes of the opening 45 minutes.

Dolcek was often a nuisance for the hosts and drove United forward multiple times, seeing shots blocked a few times too, as the Croat piled pressure on a disjointed Dundee.

On-loan Liverpool defender Luca Stephenson was able to drive down the right-hand side, once again exploiting Dundee's weakness, and cut it back for Sapsford, who side-footed his side into an away lead.

When attacking, Steven Pressley's side looked toothless and unable to find an effective route to goal. Yan Dhanda, on loan from Hearts, opted against shots from distance and continued to pass it around the edge of the area, summing up their fragmented approach to the game.

United were able to keep any Dundee attacks at bay and, despite looking unlikely at times to find a second, remained in control and were out of sight when the impressive Dolcek's rasping strike secured their first three points of the season towards the end of the 90.

Dundee's left-hand side let them down in the opening 45 minutes and was the reason they fell behind so easily.

Pressley has favoured a back five this season, with Luke Graham (22) the furthest left centre-half, and Imari Samuels (12) playing as the wing-back.

However, the above graphic of average positions for the hosts shows that Samuels wasn't offering any wide cover, and instead playing in front of Graham.

This may well be on the instructions of the coaching staff, but United were ready to exploit it either way.

Liverpool loanee Stephenson and attacker Dolcek - who was terrific - routinely breezed down the right flank, particularly in the opening half.

United's first goal saw Stephenson play a one-two with Dolcek who was out wide, with paint on his boots, and then cut it back - all down the right.

Jim Goodwin and his staff knew how to hurt Dundee, and his players were ruthless.

Dundee head coach Steven Pressley: "From an offensive perspective, we certainly have to do better. We lacked, in the first half, a little bit of thrust.

"We got a little bit more thrust in the second half, but our final pass, our final decision wasn't right.

"And over the course of the 90 minutes, we didn't deserve anything from the game. I'm aware of that.

"We're at the early stages just now, we've improved a lot in our defensive actions, but now we have to improve in our offensive actions and we'll continue to work on that. We'll continue to strive to be better in that area, but we know that, we know, and it's finding the balance.

"You can improve in offensive aspects and then not in the defensive. We've improved defensively, now we need to improve offensively and that will only come with time, perseverance and a lot of work on the training ground."

Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin: "We're delighted with the result, it's exactly what we wanted. The clean sheet was really important as well.

"I don't think we've defended terribly from open play up to now, set plays have cost us in a number of the games that we've been involved in, but today we showed that over the last couple of weeks, with that break that we've had, we've been able to spend a bit more time on the training pitch and go through the shape of the team without the ball and obviously spent a lot of time working on our set-play set-up.

"And today I thought the boys were excellent.

"The overall performance was really pleasing from back to front, showed good composure, good bravery on the ball at times to play our way out of trouble and scored a couple of really good goals as far as we're concerned."

Both sides return to action after the international break.

Dundee host Motherwell on Saturday 13 September (15:00 BST), while United are away to Hibs the same day (17:45 BST).

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