SMITH’S SEARCH FOR NEW TALENT CONTINUES

Although two of his regular central defenders will miss Saturday's derby through suspension, United Manager Alex Smith revealed on Monday that he would not be seeking to bring in new faces to fill the gaps. Jim Lauchlan, sent off at Motherwell on Saturday, and Jason de Vos are both facing one match bans, but with the likes of the promising David McCracken, John Licina and David Partridge all available, the Manager believes he has plenty of cover for the Dundee clash. That does not mean Alex's search for new talent has ended and two trialists, an Icelandic striker and an English midfielder, arrived at Tannadice on Monday and were scheduled to play in the evening Under-21 clash with Motherwell. Looking back at the first team's weekend defeat, the boss expressed disappointment at the result but not the performance. "I had the encouragement of good displays from Charlie Miller and Beto Naveda and the team as a whole showed again that we are heading in the right direction. "We have to start winning and soon, but I know we will turn the corner."