Dundee United

Ronny Costello
Fan writer

It was a classic Tangerine rollercoaster at Rugby Park this weekend.

One goal up and cruising at half-time, then 20 minutes into the second half we're 3-1 down, before it ends 3-3.

Now, let's all take a deep breath.

Much of the group chat this week was focused on whether Jim Goodwin would stick with the dynamic duo of Louis Moult and Sam Dalby up top after their impressive cameo in the cup match last week.

The summer was all about working on a 3-4-3 formation. While we've started games in this system, there's been plenty of tinkering with formations, tactics, and personnel. More often than not, it's resulted in a decent outcome. But, heading into Kilmarnock, we were coming off two defeats, including a cup exit.

So, let's go back to that bit about being 1-0 up at half time. All good.

Pie and Bovril? All good.

An Empire Biscuit costing £2.80? NOT GOOD!

Imagine the half-time message: "Keep it going lads, stay solid at the back and take those chances. Oh, and remember to track your man."

Enter wee Davie Watson from Prestwick. In the blink of an eye, we're 3-1 down with Killie looking like world beaters. Oh, and let's not get started on the VAR lines.

Now, the debate over the delay in substitutions started immediately. From Killie's third goal to the subs - four of them at once - it took a whole ten minutes.

But it was worth the wait for the blockbuster finish!

A screamer from Craig Sibbald gave us a glimmer of hope before Ross Graham - the Blairgowrie Maldini - made sure we weren't going down without a fight, scoring from the penalty spot in the 99th minute.

Jim Goodwin rolled the dice with 15 minutes to go, and fair play, he had to. The four subs and switch to a 4-2-4 formation was an all-out attack, and from 3-1 down, when it looked like it might become 4-1 or even 5-1, this team showed its character and fight. We came away from Rugby Park with a well-earned draw.

We saw the good, the bad, and the downright bizarre in those 99 minutes. But, overall? We're doing alright.

Dundee United's trip to Edinburgh to take on Hibernian in the Scottish Premiership, originally scheduled for Wednesday, 4 December, has been brought forward at the request of both clubs.

Jim Goodwin's side will now visit Easter Road on Sunday, 3 November at 15:00.

Celtic's trip to Tannadice before Christmas has been selected for television coverage and moved to Sunday, 22 December at 12 noon.

Image source, SNS

Luca Stephenson has experienced the highs and lows of penalty drama in the past two weeks.

The on-loan Liverpool defender fouled Moses Ebiye in the box late on in Dundee United's Premier Sports quarter-final against Motherwell, and the spot-kick was scored by Lennon Miller to send the Steelmen through to the semi-finals.

Though his fortunes were different on Saturday against Kilmarnock, as he drew a foul from Fraser Murray deep into added time. The successful penalty rescued a Scottish Premiership point for United.

It also drew praise from his manager, Jim Goodwin, who hailed his resilience and maturity at bouncing back from a tough lesson in Lanarkshire.

"It's clever from Stephenson to get himself goal side of the Kilmarnock defender, who is ball watching a bit and there is contact with his left calf which leads to the penalty," Goodwin said after the 3-3 draw.

"Stephenson held his hands up in the dressing room after that rash decision at Fir Park last weekend (to give away a penalty). Nobody in their career has probably done it as much as I have so I have every sympathy for him but he's man enough to own up to it.

"The players and the staff all got round him and picked his head up and he showed a positive reaction today. We've got to remember the boy's age as well and where he's come from. He's had a great education at Liverpool and we're hoping to continue that.

"He'll learn from situations like that and games like today are important moments in all the players' careers as well."

Watch highlights as Kilmarnock draw 3-3 against Dundee United in the Scottish Premiership.

Available to UK viewers only.

We asked for your views on Dundee United’s 3-3 draw against Kilmarnock.

Here's what some of you said:

Andy: Need to be realistic here. We've just returned to the Premiership, still only lost one Premiership game, a ground we never do well at and we've made a terrific recovery from a position which potentially we shouldn't have got into in the first place.

I'll take the point. We'd have taken a point against Hearts and we got all three. We're doing alright.

Robert: Great fightback but why didn't Jim Goodwin make the changes sooner? He should have changed formation and brought on the substitutions when we went behind and we could have been looking at three points rather than one.

David: That's how to make a draw feel like a win. United are not far from getting it right. Goodwin must have learnt a lot from that match.

Image source, SNS

• Kilmarnock have failed to win in their last eight games in the Premiership. Their last longer winless streak was from 16th January 2021 to 6th March 2021, a run of 10 games.

• Ross Graham attempted 62 passes in this game, the highest total for a Dundee United player in the Premiership this season.

• Kilmarnock have won three points from losing positions in the Premiership this season, no team has recovered more.

• Luca Stephenson has assisted two goals in the Premiership this season (two in this game), no Dundee United player has more.

Image source, SNS

Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin: "The players didn't give up. That's what I've got to be most proud of. Yes, we had to adapt and make changes but I always felt if we got the next goal at 3-1 it would be nervous for Kilmarnock.

"If you'd offered me a point before the game, I probably would have taken it because we know how difficult a venue this is, but, leading the game, you've got the feeling of is it two points dropped?"

Martin Dowden
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Image source, SNS

United looked good in the opening period and likely to build on what has been a more than solid league start on their return to the Scottish Premiership.

A point here would, in ordinary circumstances, be a reasonably good outcome. In these circumstances, Jim Goodwin would have bitten your hand off when 3-1 down.

However, United seemed to have a good grip on this in the opening 45 and that slipped badly before their stunning response. Three points looked realistic before things fell apart for a spell.

Louis Moult's goal was full of quality, particularly the build up that led to it. To then keep going right to the end and get back on level terms from two down showed undeniable spirit.

But the period in which Kilmarnock surged at them, scored three and hit the woodwork must be of concern.

We saw good and bad from United. Fair play for the fightback and a positive outcome. It remains a good point, all things considered.

Ross Graham's injury-time penalty earned Dundee United an unlikely point and denied Kilmarnock a first league win of the season in a breathtaking contest.

What did you make of that game, United fans? Was a point each the right result, or did you deserve something more?

Who stood out for you? And did you expect Graham to take that penalty?!

Let us know your thoughts, external.

Image source, SNS

Craig Sibbald. At the heart of everything good that United did.

Instrumental in their fine first-half display, he was also key in spearheading their comeback with his lashed strike.

Will Ferry also deserves a mention, as does Luca Stephenson on the right. The two wing-backs did brilliantly in the first half to offer width and create United's first goal.

Image source, SNS

Kilmarnock defender Joe Wright begins a three-match ban but Liam Donnelly and Brad Lyons return. Kyle Magennis is still working his way back from a long-term absence.

Dundee United are only missing Ryan Strain (hamstring).

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Jort van der Sande says it is "difficult" that he hasn't scored yet in the Scottish Premiership but is hoping to change his fortunes when Dundee United travel to Kilmarnock on Saturday.

The 28-year-old striker scored 37 goals in the last three seasons with Dutch side ADO Den Haag, but is yet to score in seven appearances for United.

"I'm a striker and I have to score goals, that's my main goal and it's always difficult to not be on the scoresheet for this long," Van der Sande said.

"It only makes me want to work harder to be on the scoresheet but of course it's frustrating as a striker.

"The problem is I didn’t have many opportunities to score. It's not like I am missing big chances back to back.

"It's a different kind of playing. At this moment I'm not really getting the chances but I know you have to be patient as a striker and when the chances come I have to be ready.

"It's always difficult to go to another country, another club, especially that late in the pre-season. It takes time to acclimatise but it's getting better and better.

"It's different players but you talk a lot with team-mates who have been in the same situation and that's a great help."

Image source, SNS

Jim Goodwin says Dundee United's 2-1 defeat against Motherwell in the Scottish League Cup quarter-finals was "as low as I can remember feeling for a long time".

A stoppage-time penalty from Lennon Miller resulted in a late loss for the Tannadice side, who had equalised through a Louis Moult stunner.

Goodwin felt the performance at Fir Park was largely positive, but the manager said his team went on to "shot ourselves in the foot".

"There was obvious disappointment after the game," he said. "I said myself it was as low as I can remember feeling for a long time after a result.

"There wasn't a great deal separating either team in the league and these games are often decided by small margins, and that's what happened.

"The overall performance against Motherwell was fairly good to be honest and when we got the equaliser I felt we were in the ascendancy.

"If anybody was going to go and win the game it looked like it would have been ourselves, but we shot ourselves in the foot on the night."

United will look to bounce back when they return to league action by facing Kilmarnock on Saturday.

And Goodwin feels positively about his players showing a reaction given their approach to training this week.

"When we came back into training on Monday, the boys were back on it and knew what was at stake," he added.

"It's about how you react to these disappointing situations and that shows the character within the group.

"We've had a great week's training, the boys are really looking forward to the weekend and hopefully we get back to winning ways."

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Jim Goodwin has been speaking to the media before Dundee United's trip to Kilmarnock on Saturday.

Here are the key lines from the United boss:

• He says the weekend's match is "going to be difficult but our boys are in a good place, albeit off the back of a couple of tight defeats".

• Goodwin's got a "huge amount of respect" for Derek McInnes and says his "teams are always very well organised and hard working".

• He was disappointed with the Motherwell cup loss, saying "it was as low as I can remember feeling for a long time after a result".

• Says he is happy with the squad depth and believes he has "good strength and really good options right across the board" - but the players "know they need to perform to make sure that they keep the jersey".

• After two defeats in a row, he says he's looking for a "real positive reaction, consistency within the group and consistency in how we want to play".

• Goodwin would like United to continue their positive results away from home and says "we love playing at home in front of our own supporters but the away games there's more pressure on the home team".

• He praised the away support and says "they've always got behind the team and we hope we give them another good performance to get excited about".

• On plastic pitches, he says "we all prefer to play on a nice grass surface, I'm pretty sure the majority of the Kilmarnock players would say the same".

Image source, SNS

• Kilmarnock have won both of their last two Scottish Premiership games against Dundee United, last winning three in a row against the Tangerines in the top flight in February 2002 under Bobby Williamson.

• Dundee United have only won once in their last nine Scottish Premiership away games against Kilmarnock (D3 L5), a 4-2 win in May 2016 under Gordon Young’s caretaker management.

• Kilmarnock are unbeaten in nine home Scottish Premiership games against newly-promoted opponents (W5 D4) since a 0-3 defeat to Hibernian in October 2017.

• Along with Hearts, Kilmarnock are one of two sides who remain winless in this season’s Scottish Premiership (P5 W0 D2 L3) - Killie last failed to win their opening six matches of a top-flight campaign in 2017-18 (eight).

• After their 1-0 win at Hearts earlier this month, Dundee United could win back-to-back Scottish Premiership away games for the first time since August 2020.

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Kilmarnock secured European football by finishing fourth in last season’s Scottish Premiership.

The current incumbents of that position? Dundee United.

Jim Goodwin's side would bite your hand off if they were offered the chance to still be there come the end of the campaign.

If they are, then it would secure financial and prestige-based trappings for the Tannadice side.

To achieve that end, United will need to win games like their next Premiership outing – away to Killie this weekend – and the one after that, on the road at St Mirren, who finished fifth last term – also securing European football in the process.

What those two teams achieved last season will undoubtedly be a yardstick for what the likes of United can, and perhaps should, be aiming to achieve this time round.

Of course the season is still in its relative infancy, but the early signs have been encouraging.

A respectable points haul from the coming few games would help establish a body of evidence to suggest that United can push to meet a lofty target like the one outlined above.

Goodwin will perhaps also learn a bit about the resilience of his squad this weekend, after their hopes of reaching the League Cup semi-finals were dashed by Lennon Miller’s added-time penalty for Motherwell last Friday night.

An undoubted blow for the United players and for Goodwin who admitted, "this is as low as I have felt after a game for a long period of time".

They will have to lift themselves quickly as they target a win this weekend which would not just go a little way towards banishing those blues, but it would also say a lot about the character of those in tangerine.

Glenn Middleton is determined to stay with Dundee United and fight for his place despite the 24-year-old winger having failed to make a Premiership appearance this season. (The Courier), external

Read Wednesday's Scottish Gossip in full here.

Paul McNicoll
Fan writer

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since 2015. Harambe became an internet phenomenon, the world played with fidget spinners, we left the European Union, a global pandemic impacted us all, and United have even been relegated twice.

But 2015 is also another marker, at least for United fans. It is the last time we got a sniff of Hampden in the League Cup. We'd lose to Celtic that day, no real shock there I guess.

The quarters are as far as we've been since, so when the draw for that same stage was made this year and we were picked out of the pot to play Motherwell away, there was an excitement. From both sides I’d imagine.

Goes without saying, in any cup draw you want to avoid the two behemoths from Glasgow, and at this moment at least, it was also fortunate to avoid being drawn against Jimmy Thelin's Aberdeen.

Now I want to make it clear, I was not getting ahead of myself in looking past Motherwell, far from it.

There is absolutely nothing between the sides from what I have seen so far this season, so I knew they'd be just as happy with the draw as United were. That is almost exactly how it panned out.

The sense at the time Louis Moult sparked pandemonium in the away end was that the momentum would swing in United's favour and we would go on and nick the winner. Oh, how my sense was wrong.

As the game was heading for an extra 30 minutes, United's young Liverpool loanee Luca Stephenson channelled his inner Grant Hanley and made a rash challenge in the box and upended Motherwell forward Moses Ebiye.

The coolest man on the park, and the best player on the park on the night, Lennon Miller stepped up and sent his team to Hampden.

For at least another year in this competition, United's dream died. A slow, disappointing, miserable death that we are all too familiar with.

Guess we'll just have to win the Scottish Cup...

We asked for your views on Dundee United's 2-1 away defeat to Motherwell in the Scottish League Cup quarter-finals.

Here's what some of you said:

Fraser: United didn't deserve anything from the game. You can't go into games and not take shots at the goal, it won't win you games. Think there was a major mistake from Goodwin in the selection choice going into the game. Moult can feel very hard done by to not be starting, and hopefully Goodwin sees that for Kilmarnock.

Tam: Predictably Goodwin forced to change the starting 3-4-3 formation for the fifth time in the last seven matches. We need Louis Moult starting games. We also need to give Middleton and Fotheringham a chance and stop playing Babunski out of position.

Matthew: Interesting we improved dramatically once Middleton and Moult were on. As good as the new signings are, perhaps Goodwin needs to show some faith in the lads that got us promoted. Not worried, but more is needed.

Scott: We must be the most predictable team in world football to play against. Tribal leaders in deepest Amazonia know that Jim Goodwin plays a 3-4-3. Lacklustre and unimaginative with the ball, with mistakes starting to creep in at the back. That must change immediately before our season turns sour very quickly!

Dundee United miss their chance to be the first side to secure their place in the Premier Sports Cup semi-finals after defeat by Motherwell.

Were you among the impressive 8,000-plus crowd at Fir Park or watch the game elsewhere?

Give us your thoughts here., external

Clive Lindsay
BBC Sport Scotland

Image source, SNS

Dundee United manger Jim Goodwin had handed Ross Docherty his first start of the season, the captain replacing Kevin Holt in midfield for the Premier Sports Cup quarter-final against Motherwell - as he did before half-time in Sunday's league defeat by Rangers.

Goodwin cited the former Partick Thistle 31-year-old's composure on the ball for that switch and it paid off early as United looked the more creative force.

However, there was a lack of threat up front, while midfield duo David Babunski and Kristijan Trapanovski, the summer signings who have impressed so far this season, failed to live up to the occasion before both were withdrawn.

The changes hauled United back into the game, with on-loan Wrexham striker Sam Dalby looking dangerous before chesting down for Louie Moult's equaliser.

However, the visitors had left it too late to come to life and, after on-loan Liverpool wide man Luca Stephenson's rash challenge conceded a late penalty, will look back on this as an opportunity missed to reach their first semi-final since losing to Celtic in the 2015 final.