First Team
All The Info | Rangers (A)
22nd November 2024
United secured three points today thanks to a Mikkelsen brace and an Andreu goal in a game where they dominated the second half.
By Stewart Buick
Neither team created much until the twenty-fourth minute when Spittal floated the ball to the back post and found Murray who brought the ball down but was dispossessed by McHattie.
Raith had a half chance on the forty-second minute when a McHattie free kick out wide left was floated in and nodded back across by Benedictus but headed over by McManus.
United took the lead bang on forty-five minutes when Brenan got a touch to a Fraser free kick which then fell to Dixon who put the ball back in to the near post where it was met by Mikkelsen who nodded home from six yards for his first goal for United.
United controlled the second half from the first whistle and added to their lead on the forty-eighth minute when an attack down the left-hand side from Dixon, whose cross went to the back post, was nodded back by Mikkelsen to Andreu who flicked it up and drilled it home from eleven yards out.
United then doubled their lead in the fifty-third minute after a wonderful cross by Murray was met by Mikkelsen and his looping header into far corner passed the diving Brenan for his second of the game and United’s second in five minutes.
The home side continued to control the game and Murray nearly added to the score line when his half volley was saved by Brenan. With United in the ascendancy, it was Murray again with a chance from the edge of the box but shot was pushed away by Brenan and eventually cleared by Callachan.
On the seventy-eighth-minute debutant Alex Nicholls had a perfect opportunity to open his United account after a lovely bit of play from van der Velden who played Murray through to touch in onto Nicholls, yet his shot clipped the outside of the right-hand post.
Full time – Dundee United 3 – Raith Rovers 0
Man of the Match – Thomas Mikkelsen. His two goals proved crucial today and he was an aerial threat all day long with which the Raith defence struggled to cope. His second goal was a brilliant header and he got a standing ovation from the home crowd when he was taken off.
Teams:
Dundee United; Bell, (C), van der Struijk, Durnan, Dixon, Toshney (Telfer 90), Fraser, Andreu (van der Velden 75), Mikkelsen (Nicholls 77), Murray
Un-used Subs: Zwick(GK), Dillion, Murdoch, Telfer, Robson.
Raith Rovers: Cuthbert (Brenan 29), Thomson, Mvoto, McHattie, Callachan, Barr, Matthews (Hardie 61), Davidson, Stewart, McManus (Stevenson 71)
Un-used subs: Johnstone, Skacel, Thompson, Barr.
United then doubled their lead in the fifty-third minute after a wonderful cross by Murray was met by Mikkelsen and his looping header into far corner passed the diving Brenan for his second of the game and United’s second in five minutes.
The home side continued to control the game and Murray nearly added to the score line when his half volley was saved by Brenan. With United in the ascendancy, it was Murray again with a chance from the edge of the box but shot was pushed away by Brenan and eventually cleared by Callachan.
On the seventy-eighth-minute debutant Alex Nicholls had a perfect opportunity to open his United account after a lovely bit of play from van der Velden who played Murray through to touch in onto Nicholls, yet his shot clipped the outside of the right-hand post.
Full time – Dundee United 3 – Raith Rovers 0
Man of the Match – Thomas Mikkelsen. His two goals proved crucial today and he was an aerial threat all day long with which the Raith defence struggled to cope. His second goal was a brilliant header and he got a standing ovation from the home crowd when he was taken off.
Teams:
Dundee United; Bell, (C), van der Struijk, Durnan, Dixon, Toshney (Telfer 90), Fraser, Andreu (van der Velden 75), Mikkelsen (Nicholls 77), Murray
Un-used Subs: Zwick(GK), Dillion, Murdoch, Telfer, Robson.
Raith Rovers: Cuthbert (Brenan 29), Thomson, Mvoto, McHattie, Callachan, Barr, Matthews (Hardie 61), Davidson, Stewart, McManus (Stevenson 71)
Un-used subs: Johnstone, Skacel, Thompson, Barr.
