Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin claimed Sunday’s 2-2 stalemate at home to city rivals Dundee “felt like a defeat” as he regretted his team’s missed opportunity to win their first William Hill Premiership game. The newly promoted Terrors led 2-1 when Kristijan Trapanovski and Miller Thomson scored in the first half, respectively, before Seb Palmer-Houlden equalised. And they had a fantastic opportunity to extend their lead in the 57th minute when Trapanovski ran clean through on goal and clipped the ball over goalkeeper Jon McCracken, only for Lyall Cameron to come back and stop it crossing the line. It proved important, as Dundee rallied to earn a point with a late Luke McCowan penalty after Ross Graham brought down Simon Murray.
“We’re disappointed, particularly when you look at that big moment at 2-1 where we caught Dundee on the counter-attack from their set-play and Trapanovski was through one-on-one,” stated coach Goodwin. “I’m not going to be very critical of him because I think he played exceptionally well. The goalkeeper was about 18-20 yards away, so I would have rather that he knocked the ball past him, rounded him, and tapped it in, but he decided for the adventurous chip. “It almost came off, but you have to give respect to the defending Dundee player for not giving up and returning to clear it off the line just in time.
“If that goes in, it’s 3-1, and Dundee will have a huge mountain to climb. I believe that gave them a lift that it did not go in, and they threw everything at us in the second half.”When I watch the game again, I’ll probably conclude that a draw was a fair result.” Goodwin also claimed that coins were thrown at him by some of the 3000 Dundee fans seated in the main stand. “I’ve had three or four chucked at me throughout the game,” he told me. “I spoke with the security guys downstairs, and no doubt they’ll file a report with the SFA.”
“It’s disappointing, and it’s not the first time this has happened here with the fans behind the dugout. It’s an emotional game, but it is not what we desire.” Dundee manager Tony Docherty was frustrated that his team did not go on to win the game following McCowan’s equaliser in the 79th minute. “I thought we were the team in the ascendency at the end,” he told me.
“I had a feeling we’d nick it. I believe we had a few golden chances near the finish. “Curtis Main and Simon Murray both had shots on goal. “Dundee United definitely watched us in the first half, and I thought they did a good job of negating our strengths. “The character of the squad to come back from 1-0 down and 2-1 down speaks volumes of what I’ve got in there.”
