Appearances & Goals To Date
Starting Lineup
| Youngest Player: | Shaun Rooney (23 years 215 days) |
| Oldest Player: | Carl Tremarco (34 years 141 days) |
| Average Player Age: | 27 years 162 days |
| Domestic Players: | 7 (63.64 % of starting eleven) |
Matchday Squad
| Youngest Player: | Roddy MacGregor (18 years 66 days) |
| Oldest Player: | Carl Tremarco (34 years 141 days) |
| Average Player Age: | 25 years 334 days |
| Domestic Players: | 11 (61.11 % of matchday squad) |
First Team Debuts
Milestones
John Robertson was without the injured Sean Welsh who has been out of the side most of his time here. Some say he is made of wafers, but he will be a big miss for us tonight. Former United player Lewis Toshney was on the bench with Brad Mckay coming into the back four. First time back at Tannadice since the departure of Coll Donaldson; who will they vent their anger towards instead?
Louis Appere came back into the starting XI with American Ian Harkes dropping to the bench. Former Hamilton Accies striker Rakish Bingham made his home debut. Lawrence Shankland, the scorer of five goals in two games against Inverness was United's main striker.
United kicked off with constant rain falling at Tannadice and James Vincent had to charge down an effort on the edge of the box, but moments later Lawrance Shankland should have opened the scoring as he latched onto a ball in the box with just a couple of minutes on the clock but fired just over the bar.
Ten minutes gone and the game had turned into a midfield tussle. Or did I speak too soon........
Inverness failed to defend positively when United probed forward and Louis Appere side footed home brilliantly from the edge of the box with Mark Ridgers unable to get an early vision of the shot, the ball nestling in the bottom corner beyond the keepers outstretched hands.
Mark Connolly headed over from a corner a minute later as United began to dominate the midfield and Shankland saw a twelve yard shot deflected over the bar for a corner which Ridgers claimed well given the slippery conditions.
Inverness responded well and put United on the back foot momentarily before James Keatings dived shot over. Storey dragged a shot well wide as well as we tried to get a foothold. Vincent found himself offside after some neat interplay as we pushed forward.
Brad Mckay did well to stop a surging run by Peter Pawlett and as the play went to the other end Jordan White shot over.
David Carson robbed Shankland in the visitors half and the move ended when Tom Walsh curled a shot just over the bar. United did likewise as Connolly drove forward and Appere forced Ridgers to save his angled shot low down.
Inverness went to the other end and won a corner. Keatings swung a great ball into the near post and big Jordan White put his head in the mix to power a header behind Siegrist to level the score.
Some confusion in the home box allowed White to turn and shoot but the ball was deflected agonisingly wide with only five minutes to the interval. The corner showed more indecisiveness in the United box as it was hacked clear. Moments later White tried to get space in the box but United eventually broke the move down.
There was no let up in the weather as the break approached and Shankland tried to burst into the box but Brad Mckay once more dominated him.
Just on the break a flick goalwards was scooped up by Ridgers and that endeth a decent first forty-five.
Half time 1-1
No replacements at the break as the rain continued to dampen the atmosphere.
Walsh brought out a save from Siegrist at the start of the half as Inverness continued on the front foot but Carson who was walking a tightrope after a soft booking in the first half upended a United player to the derision of the home support.
Another Keatings corner almost brought white into play agfain at the near post but United survived.
Robbo thought better of the Carson incident and replaced him with Charlie Trafford as united refreshed as well.
Against the run of play, Shankland turned and rammed home from the edge of the box to put United ahead once more with Rakish Bingham providing the assist. Great strike from a class striker, his 28th goal of the season.
In the 70th minute Inverness wee fortunate to see a Harkes strike deflected for a corner as United looked to kill the game
Shaun Rooney almost equalised in the final minutes when he headed just over the corner of the bar as Inverness chased an equaliser. It almost came when a long ball over the top found Tremarco coming in on the blind side but he was only able to find the side netting.
A great tackle from Mckay halted Appere as he sprinted forward on the wing, but time ran out for the Caley Jags.
The game ended just out of reach for the Caley Jags, but a decent performance all round which could have gained at least a point was the final outcome.
Meh!!!
Match report written by tm4tj
