IF Valentine’s weekend is all about displaying devotion – well, that and hastily purchasing cheap, withering petrol station roses – Dundee United’s long-suffering fans still showed plenty of it. “United we love you” they hollered as they finished the day in a worse position as they had started it.
Anchored to the foot of the Premiership, 11 points adrift, prior to kick-off, they found themselves 12 points behind Motherwell, their nearest rivals in peril, come 4.45 pm. They could have left Lanark- shire with nowt, of course.
Eiji Kawashima’s legs came to United’s rescue as the Japanese keeper saved Ali Crawford’s 85th-minute penalty.
United had a boisterous plea for a penalty of their own early in the second half when Coll Donaldson appeared to be felled in the box by Lucas Tagliapietra. Cue a ranting, raving, fist-shaking Mixu Paatelainen lambasting the referee at full-time? Not quite.
“It wasn’t a penalty,” said the United manager as he scuppered the hopes of those salivating scribblers looking to pen a right good throaty blast. “There was some contact before the penalty area and if anything it was a free-kick but certainly not a penalty.
“I looked at it on the television. It’s a fair decision. It wasn’t our best performance today but I thought we were worth a point. We have Motherwell next and it won’t be easy but we have momentum.”
Paatelainen’s Hamilton counter- part, Martin Canning, must have been holding his breath and nibbling his finger nails when Donaldson went flying.
“It looked like a penalty,” admitted Canning, who made a cameo appearance in injury time after Michael Devlin was sent off for a second bookable offence. “But I spoke to Lucas and he said the United guy kicked the ground and his own foot. It was a stumble… but I’ve said that plenty of times when I’ve kicked somebody. It’s our fourth clean sheet in five but to miss a penalty so late in the game feels like you have lost the game. I’m trying to get that feeling out of the changing room, though, because the boys worked hard.”
Given the state of affairs at the wrong end of the table, this was always going to be a jittery, tense tussle. Even the stadium announcer appeared to be racked with nerves as he delivered the team lines in the kind of sombre tones that sounded like he was reading the death notices.
There have been plenty of folk preparing to rattle off the last rites to Dundee United, of course. Those in and round Tannadice, meanwhile, are preferring to look on the bright side of life.
There wasn’t much to look at, bright or otherwise, in the opening period that had plenty of running around but not much else. About the most decisive move of the first 20 minutes was performed by a New Douglas Park sprinkler which decided to come on momentarily and started spraying water about the United area. It was the only thing being sprayed about with any great precision, mind, as the general scrappiness of the match made for a ghastly spectacle.
The best chance of the entire half fell to United in the 37th minute. John Rankin prodding a through ball to Simon Murray in the area but his jab was blocked by keeper Michael McGovern.
The second period began with a bang for United’s Demel when he took a sore one to the head and had to be patched up. When he reappeared, bloodied and bandaged, he made an instant impact, sending Billy Mckay darting clear with a nice through ball. Mckay dithered and when he got a shot away, it was charged down.
There was nothing between the teams and after the Donaldson penalty claim, Accies were offered the chance to win it when Paul Paton clipped Dougie Imrie. The chance wasn’t taken and Kawashima earned his corn with a fine block. The guests could have even nicked it themselves in the frenzied last knockings as Guy Demel and Donaldson had swipes during a couple of goalmouth scrambles that were blocked by desperate defending.
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