An Under-21 side containing a mix of youth and experience took on Aberdeen at Tannadice tonight and in a 4-4-2 formation, Tony Bullock was in goal to make his come back after injury. The back four was made up of Stuart Abbot, Garry Kenneth, Ross Gardiner and Stuart Duff. In midfield, Aaron Conway and Graeme Holmes joined the experienced Craig Easton and Jim Paterson, another player making a return following injury. The strike pairing consisted of Collin Samuel and Jason Scotland.
Aberdeen's line up consisted largely of young players and it was a match in which United were in control for most of the time although Bullock did have to make a couple of good saves. Holmes sent in a great ball to allow Paterson to open the scoring with a fantastic header at the back post and it was Paterson at the double when he made it two with a cool finish after he was set up by Samuel on the edge of the box. Scotland added a third shortly before half time when he rifled in a shot to send the home side into the dressing room three goals up at the break. In the second half United continued to dominate and it was no surprise when Samuel made it 4-0 with a header at the back post from a well flighted Conway free kick. During the second half all three subs were used and Joe Andrew, Steven Bell and Kenny Jarvis were brought on to replace Easton, Scotland and Paterson.
Owen Coyle was obviously delighted with the outcome and after the match he said "It was good team performance to earn us full points and we were glad to be able to field some of the first team boys after the last few games where we had to play mostly our young lads. We had two players making comebacks tonight and they both came through well. Tony Bullock played the full ninety minutes and made a couple of great saves and Jim Paterson played about seventy minutes and did very well. He will be delighted to have scored a couple of goals as well. Aberdeen had a young side out but I still felt we gained a convincing win and all the players acquitted themselves very well."