First Team
TEAM NEWS | PARTICK THISTLE (H)
3rd May 2024
QUEEN'S PARK 2 (Bannon, Biggar)
DUNDEE UNITED 5 (Graham, Glass, Thomson, Cudjoe, Thomson)
CINCH RESERVE LEAGUE
14:00 TUESDAY 21ST MARCH
LOCHINCH PARK
Dundee United B faced Queen’s Park for the third time this season, this the first cinch Reserve League meeting of the sides and just United’s third league match of the season after a hectic cup schedule.
Team Talk
Looking to bounce back from exiting the Reserve League Cup at the Semi-Final stage, Brian Grant and Andy Payne made three changes to the side defeated at Rugby Park seven days prior.
There was a straight swap at the back with first-team regular Ross Graham slotting into left-centre half in place of Adam Hutchinson, and Layton Bisland claimed the starting spot at right-back from Sean Borland.
Kai Fotheringham played on the left of a central midfield pairing also featuring Declan Glass, whilst Sadat Anaku led the line with support from Miller Thomson and Mathew Cudjoe on the wings.
Both sides tentatively felt eachother out in the opening exchanges, with few clear-cut sightings of goal. A blustery west-coast breeze also affected proceedings, as many aerial passes failed to find their intended target after blowing off course.
A half-chance fell the way of the hosts after 15 minutes, Alex Bannon stabbing a Callum Biggar delivery into the side netting from an acute angle.
A Commanding Voice
Academy graduate Graham was a standout performer from the first whistle as he marshalled the United rear-guard with distinction. Dominant in the air and composed with his feet, the 22-year-old left Spiders striker Liam McLeish cutting an isolated figure up top.
Queen’s Park were keen to build from the back, comfortable taking the ball within their own penalty area under pressure from pressing tangerine shirts. This did almost backfire however on 18 minutes when the tenacious Thomson pickpocketed Bannon 20 yards from goal.
The 18-year-old entered the are and the opportunity to pull the trigger presented itself, but Thomson delayed in striking and allowed a recovering Queen’s defender to take the sting out of his eventual effort with a well-timed sliding block.
Merely 60 seconds later, a tidy reverse pass from Glass charging towards the box ricocheted into the path of Sadat who, uncharacteristically, sent a tame finish straight at Spiders number one Liam Russell from the penalty spot.
Queen’s fired a warning shot after defensive hesitancy from Layton Bisland as he allowed a Route One ball to bounce over his head in the wind, and Alejandro Fairlie raced around the other side of the United defender to claim possession.
19-year-old attacker Fairlie then fed Gregor Nicol up supporting the attack, who danced along the edge of the box before finding his low, driven strike thwarted by Bisland making up for his earlier error.
Just Rewards
On the half-hour mark, the deadlock would be broken and Graham netted the goal his performance merited.
A Cudjoe corner was met by Comerford in the middle on the full whose bullet header smacked back off the crossbar. He then saw his awkward follow-up effort acrobatically pawed off the line by Russell, but Graham was on hand to slam the ball into the net at the third time of asking despite the best efforts of Bannon in the six-yard box.
Ruairidh Adams’ first action of note came two minutes before the interval, the United stopper getting down sharply to deny Zach Mauchin after the full-back shifted inside and sent a curling finish towards the far corner from the elbow of the box.
Going For The Jugular
United came out swinging after the restart, looking for the second which would give them breathing space.
The home side continued to take risks at the back, and a slack backpass from Joeseph Smith invited pressure from Sadat. As a result, Russell miscued his attempted clearance, with Kai Fotheringham alert to pounce inside the box, but his snapshot was a relatively easy stop for the ‘keeper down to his right.
Terrors number eight Fotheringham then went close to turning provider as his inviting delivery from a wide free kick was glanced inches wide of the upright by Arron Donald.
Delightful Declan Opens Floodgates
Waves of tangerine pressure continued to batter the Glasgow outfit’s goal, and eventually, the second came in spectacular fashion with an hour down.
Glass forced a turnover 25 yards from goal, stealing the ball from Biggar before unleashing a vicious yet accurate thunderbolt into the postage stamp which left Russell rooted to the spot.
This strike seemed to open the floodgates as a hectic 15 minutes began to unfold at Lochinch Park.
Just two minutes after the Glass stunner, Spiders skipper Bannon rose highest inside the area to half the deficit by nodding past Adams from a corner that swirled in the wind.
Then the mercurial Mathew Cudjoe saw a cross-cum-shot deflected narrowly over Russell’s crossbar.
Thomson was berated by his teammates and the coaching staff for attempting to find the corner from a tight angle despite having ample support from his teammates in the middle, however, made amends almost instantly.
After terrorising Smith with his pace and trickery all afternoon, Thomson drew a penalty from the right-back with nifty footwork on 67 minutes. He proceeded to send the ‘keeper the wrong way from the spot and reinstate United’s two-goal lead.
It was two penalties in as many minutes, this time the referee pointing to the spot at the other end after Nicol’s cross cannoned back off the arm of Jacob Comerford in close quarters. Biggar, arguably the home side’s standout, tidily tucked home from 12 yards.
Classy Cudjoe
A piece of individual brilliance brought the fourth for the visitors, as Ghanaian livewire Cudjoe ghosted through no fewer than five defenders before keeping his cool to slot past Russell inside the box.
The 19-year-old was heavily involved once more with four minutes to play as a scintillating move from United culminated in the fifth and final goal in Glasgow.
Signing Off In Style
A raking crossfield pass from Graham was plucked out of the air by Cudjoe, who, despite his small stature, held off the advances of Zach Mauchin and darted along the edge of the area. He combined with fellow African Sadat by executing a sharp one-two, then picked out the run of marauding left-back Donald out wide.
U18s star Donald sent a phenomenal, first-time cross along the six-yard line for Thomson to apply the clinical finish in the middle to round off a sensational victory.
Fotheringham went close to adding number six following an intelligent short-corner routine as he whipped the ball towards the top corner from range, forcing Russell into a terrific one-handed save – the final action of an enthralling Reserve League clash.
Teamlines
Queen's Park: Russell, Biggar, Fairlie, Bannon, Nicol. Mauchin, Reid, Lind, McLeish, Scott, Smith (Graham, Thomson, McQuaid)
United: Adams, Bisland, Donald, Comerford, Graham, Moore, Cudjoe, Fotheringham, Sadat, Glass, Thomson
