We made it three wins on the spin to mark our top-six homecoming! 

Dundee United 1 (Adegboyega 25')

St Johnstone 0

3pm Saturday 12 April 2025

The CalForth Construction Arena at Tannadice Park

William Hill Premiership

Attendance: 10,160

Images: Richard Wiseman (Club Photographer)

Written by: Lyall MacDonald

The Team Talk

Jim Goodwin made just two changes from the side that strengthened our European hopes with a win at Tynecastle last week. Allan Campbell and Louis Moult made way for Glenn Middleton and Kristijan Trapanovski in a side that featured two DUFC Academy graduates, with centre-back Sam Cleall-Harding starting at Tannadice for the first time.

Strain and Ferry maintained their places out wide, on the right and left respectively, whilst club captain Ross Docherty retained his place for the third game running. The match-winner at Tynecastle, Sam Dalby, took his place up front, looking to add to his impressive tally of 14 league goals.

Neck and Neck

St Johnstone enjoyed much of the possession in the opening ten minutes; however, they struggled to create any clear-cut efforts on the United goal.

United had the first chance on goal with ten minutes on the clock. Neat passing outside the St Johnstone box allowed Ferry some space on the left-hand side, but his shot zipped wide of the mark in search of the opener.

The first half remained even throughout the opening 25 minutes, with neither team testing the respective goalkeepers.

Attack and Defence Combine

We weren’t to be denied for long, as the first corner of the afternoon was whipped in by Ferry. The in-swinging cross was too fierce for the Saints defence to deal with, and Dalby headed across goal to find Emmanuel Adegboyega at the back post, who fired past Andy Fisher to edge United ahead with his third goal of the season.

St Johnstone responded well to the setback, with a curling effort from Stephen Duke-McKenna flying past the far post as it looked destined for the top corner. The pace of the Saints forward line caused United some problems on the counterattack, in particular Makenzie Kirk and Duke-McKenna. However, a brave block from Ross Docherty prevented St Johnstone from breaching the United rearguard.

Attempts on goal were limited as the first half drew to a close, though there was some cause for concern as Ryan Strain appeared to come off worse in a challenge with Jason Holt. Thankfully, our flying wing-back was able to continue, and we ended the first half with our one-goal advantage intact.

Little Change After the Interval

The second half began in similar fashion to the first, with few chances to speak of between the sides.

The first effort came from the away team, as Kirk found space after eluding Cleall-Harding near the halfway line, but his shot flew wide of the post, and we remained one goal to the good.

Again goalmouth action was sparse in a relatively uneventful second half, with an in-swinging corner from Ferry finding the head of Gallagher. However, Fisher in the St Johnstone net was equal to it, and Saints cleared the ball to safety.

Trapanovski then found space on the left-hand side of the box and quickly wrong-footed the backtracking Daniel Balodis, though his effort went behind for a second corner in quick succession. The resulting corner brought little joy for us, as Jim Goodwin shook things up with the introductions of Louis Moult and Craig Sibbald. Dalby was then forced off and replaced by Ruari Paton for the final 20.

End to End in Search of a Second

Saints enjoyed a rare attempt at the United goal; however, after finding space on the left-hand side of the pitch, Josh McPake’s cross was met by the head of Sidibeh, but his effort was no trouble to Jack Walton in the United net.

Declan Gallagher once again came close for United after finding space to run onto a free-kick from Strain, but his header cleared the crossbar, and the score remained the same.

A neat passing combination between Luca Stephenson and Ryan Strain allowed the Liverpool loanee space on the right-hand side of the Saints box. Stephenson found Moult at the back post with a cross that eluded the Saints defence, but despite the time and space afforded to United’s number 9, Fisher made a big save to prevent us doubling our lead with ten minutes of the game remaining.

Late Pressure from Saints

We still had to stay alert in the closing stages, as Saints came close to a dramatic equaliser.

In a game that featured few efforts for Jack Walton to deal with, a cross-field pass from Graham Carey found Sidibeh in the United box. His header was flicked on by Nicky Clark, but Walton leapt high to prevent a late leveller.

Josh McPake was next to test the United defence, with his fiercely struck shot ricocheting off the foot of Ryan Strain for a corner. Saints continued to apply sustained pressure well into injury time, but we stood firm to claim a third successive 1-0 win — a massive boost to our European qualification hopes.

With this weekend’s victory over St Johnstone, we move up a place to fourth for the time being, whilst our visitors from Perth remain adrift at the foot of the table.

Post-Match Thoughts

Teamlines

Dundee United

Starting XI: Walton, Strain, Trapanovski, Ferry, Middleton, Adegboyega, Stephenson, Dalby, Docherty (c), Gallagher, Cleall-Harding

Subs: Richards, Moult, Babunski, Sibbald, Fotheringham, van der Sande, Paton, Campbell

St Johnstone

Starting XI: Fisher, Balodis, Mitchell, Griffith Mullins, Holt (c), Carey, Sidibeh, Duke-McKenna, Kirk, Douglas, Curtis

Subs: Sinclair, Svedberg, Clark, Steven, Smith, Sprangler, McPake, Mbunga Kimpioka, Watt

Next Up

With our Top 6 place now secured and the 33-game regular season wrapped up, we now await confirmation of our first post-split opponent. Fixture details for the remainder of the campaign will be announced in due course.

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