First Team

MATCH PREVIEW | QUEEN'S PARK (H)

27th September 2023

United welcome Queen’s Park to Tannadice this weekend as the Terrors look to extend their unbeaten run into double figures.

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Report Card

Scotland’s oldest professional football club came within touching distance of securing a place in the top flight for the first time since 1958 last term, narrowly missing out on the title after succumbing to a breathless final-day defeat to Dundee in May. 

They slipped into the Premiership Play-Offs as a result, and were convincingly dispatched by Partick Thistle over two legs. Veteran Manager Owen Coyle stepped down in the aftermath.

Despite the disappointment, their promotion-chasing exploits have to be admired given the club found themselves in League Two just three years ago.

Queen’s have endured a slightly more turbulent 2023/24 campaign so far, however. 

The Glasgow outfit finished second bottom of their Viaplay Cup group, but did start their league campaign in fine fettle - defeating Inverness CT and then Arbroath on successive weekends in August. 

Since, they have lost four consecutive cinch Championship matches, conceding 13 goals in the process, leaving them seventh in the table heading into this weekend’s clash.

 Facts and Stats

Lower league stalwart Louis Longridge is the only player in the Queen's Park first-team squad over the age of 30.

This will be the first time the sides have faced off in more than 21 years, with the last meeting resulting in a 4-1 League Cup 2nd Round victory for United. Stephen O'Donnell netted a hat-trick, whilst Stephen Thomson capped off the win with 18 minutes to play.

Jim Goodwin's men have the opportunity to extend their unbeaten run to ten matches. The last time a United side matched this feat was our 2019/20 Championship-winning team - who went 14 games without losing between October and January.

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19 players have represented both clubs, including Champions League and Premier League winner Andy Robertson. The full-back, now Scotland captain, progressed through the youth system at Lesser Hampden after being released by Celtic, and would go on to make 43 appearances for their first team before making the switch to Tannadice in the summer of 2013.

16-year-old goalkeeper Callan McKenna has played the most minutes in the entire second tier so far this season - 676. McKenna has a host of top English Premiership clubs keenly tracking his progress as the promising stopper continues to hold the number one jersey over last year's Championship Goalkeeper of the Season, Calum Ferrie.

The Manager

The Queen's Park hierarchy decided to take a different approach when appointing a new manager to lead the club into 2023/24, handing the reigns to former Anderlecht assistant Robin Veldman.

With a spell at Ajax's world-renowned youth academy on his CV, the Dutchman puts a strong emphasis on giving homegrown players an opportunity in the first team. At just 37 years old, Veldman himself is the second youngest boss in the league, behind Airdrieonians' player-manager Rhys McCabe. 

And in the opening months of his tenure, he has married the theory with the practical, as Queen's Park's Championship starting XI boasts an average age of just 22.1 - the youngest in the league.

Furthermore, Veldman promised to implement a possession-based style of football to entertain the Spiders' faithful and, once again, he has succeeded so far. In a typical match, his Queen's side keeps a whopping 65% possession - almost 10% higher than any other team in the division.

Talking Tactics

After unsuccessfully experimenting with a flat 4-4-2 in the Viaplay Cup group stages, a more progressive 4-3-3 has been utilised in all seven of their league matches.

With McKenna instructed to take short goal-kicks, two of their central midfielders then drop deep to receive the ball from their defenders when building from the back, whilst the full-backs are given license to push high and wide.

This naturally results in wingers, Dom Thomas and Barry Hepburn, tucking inside to open space for the overlap, and talisman Ruari Paton usually plays on the shoulder of the last defender.

Queen's tend to have a reliance on attacking down the right after a switch to advancing full-back Ben McPherson, who in turn looks for a short diagonal pass into an onrushing winger to cut back across the area.

At the other end, they have conceded a high volume of goals in the immediate aftermath of surrendering possession, and have shipped the most headers in the league this season.

One to Watch

The acquisition of Ruari Paton in the summer has proved to be a shrewd one for the Spiders.

A hot prospect across the Irish Sea in Dublin, the frontman was snapped up by Hibernian as a youngster, but almost crashed out of the game altogether when he found himself being released by the Edinburgh outfit at 19 without making a first-team appearance.

Paton pitched up at East Kilbride, where he balanced his goalscoring exploits with a laboring job in the west coast town. A further move to Stranraer followed before he would finally rediscover the form of his youth with Queen of the South.

A slow debut campaign proceeded a blistering second, as he bagged no fewer than 26 goals for the Doonhamers last term in all competitions, and earned himself a place in the third tier's Team of the Season.

In the summer, Paton swapped one Queen for another, arriving in Glasgow with the remit of firing Veldman's side into the Premiership at the second time of asking. He announced his arrival at Lesser Hampden on Matchday Three of the Viaplay Cup when he rippled the back of the net four times against Elgin City.

The Irishman scooped the SPFL's Player of the Month award for August, and has 10 G/A in 12 starts so far this season

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