United turn the tide on the Saints to earn a late Christmas present in Perth. 

St Johnstone 1 (Kirk 44')

Dundee United 2 (Middleton 51', Dalby 60')

3pm Thursday 26 December 2024

McDiarmid Park

William Hill Premiership

Attendance: 7,306

Images: Richard Wiseman (Club Photographer)

The Team Talk

Jim Goodwin made two changes to the side that drew with Celtic just four days ago. 

Luca Stephenson and Miller Thomson both dropped to the bench whilst Emmanuel Adegboyega was reinstated and Richard Odada was handed his first Premiership start. 

There were three DUFC Academy graduates involved in our matchday squad. 

At the Races

Early possession, second-ball collections and forays forward all fell in favour of Goodwin's side as we made an encouraging start in Perth - albeit without testing Josh Rae...

Benji Kimpioka squandered St Johnstone's best early sighting as he headed over from close range before Jack Walton pulled out a big stop at his near post to keep Mackenzie Kirk from opening the scoring.

We went close to a breakthrough just less than ten minutes from the half as Ryan Strain nodded a header down toward goal. Blocked at the first attempt, he got a second bite of the cherry but his close-range strike was deflected away from goal before a penalty box scramble was hooked clear by a blue shirt.

Pendulum Swings 

After being denied earlier on, Kirk eventually did find the net on the stroke of half-time. It was a cool finish from the Saints' number 27 as he swivelled at the corner of the box and fired low across goal to find the far corner.

Despite our dominance, our failure to create anything clear-cut had the hosts ahead at the break. 

Back to Haunt

Just over five minutes into the second half we were back on terms through Glenn Middleton's strike against his former club. 

We were unlucky not to have an earlier breakthrough as a charging Will Ferry jinked from one box to the other before cutting the ball back and it being cleared from danger. 

Middleton was on hand to ensure another bright start didn't go unpunished with a brilliant bit of play, beating his man with a nutmeg before cutting inside and firing into the bottom corner on his weaker right foot from 25 yards! 

Turning the Tide

We didn't have to wait much longer for our second as we made the hosts pay with fifteen ruthless second-half minutes. 

It was the league's leading goalscorer who found the net - Sam Dalby meeting Vicko Ševelj's pinpoint cross to nod beyond Rae after some patient play from The Terrors. 

It puts our number 19 up to nine goals for the season!

Dalby almost bagged a brace as he was rolled in by second-half substitute Ross Docherty, but his effort slid just past the far post just over ten minutes from time!

Grinding it Out

Our task was made tougher as Declan Gallagher was given his marching orders for a forceful tackle on Aaron Essel as we approached six additional minutes. 

Jack Sanders was closest to an equaliser for the hosts but his downward header was pushed over by Jack Walton as we held on for all three points!

 

Post-Match Thoughts

Teamlines

St Johnstone

Starting XI: Rae, Mikulic, Cameron, Sanders, Holt (c), Carey, Wright, Sprangler, Kirk, Kimpioka, Keltjens

Subs: Sinclair, Raymond, Neilson, Clark, Essel, Sidibeh, Kucheriavyi, Smith, Franczak

Dundee United

Starting XI: Walton, Strain, Holt, Sevelj, Ferry, Middleton, Stephenson, Fotheringham, Dalby, Thomson, Gallagher (c)

Subs: Richards, Graham, Trapanovski, Babunski, Odada, Adegboyega, van der Sande, Docherty, Meshack

Next Up

The busy festive schedule continues as we face Aberdeen on home turf this Sunday evening in our final clash of the calendar year!

CLICK HERE for match tickets!

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