First Team
Match Report | Rangers 1-1 Dundee United
23rd November 2024
An incident-packed final 20 minutes saw Dundee United get back to winning ways with a comfortable 4-1 victory over Hearts in a game that was not short on entertainment or controversy.
Midway through the second half the three points could still have gone either way with the game on a knife-edge at 1-1 after Christosphe Berra's close range strike had cancelled out a bizarre opening goal from Barry Robson.
But a complete lack of discipline from Hearts, who pushed the self-destruct button and finished the game with just eight men, and ruthless finishing from United, meant Craig Levein's men took all three points, ending a disappointing three-game losing streak.
Robson opened the scoring after 23 minutes after Robbie Neilson scuffed a clearance, forcing Steven Banks to collect the ball before it crossed the line. United were awarded an indirect free-kick on the six-yard line and Lee Wilkie squared the ball to skipper Robson, who fired home from the penalty spot through a crowded goal mouth.
Hearts equalised in the closing stages of the first half after Berra poked home a Michael Stewart corner, and neither side would have felt hard done by going in all square at the interval.
It was the visitors who started the second half brightly, creating a string of chances. Calum Elliot thought he had put Hearts ahead in the 51st minute when he calmly slotted home a through ball from Palazuelos which had cut the United defence wide open. He was, however, adjudged to have been offside.
The turning point came in the 67th minute when an off the ball incident between Lee Wilkie and Marius Zaliukas saw the Hearts midfielder shown a straight red card. After several minutes delay, Alan Freeland took the ball off Robbie Neilson who was waiting to take a throw-in and charged towards the box, pointing to the spot.
Robson dismissed the controversial nature of the award and was clinical from the penalty spot, scoring his second bizarre goal of the game.
Buoyed by the goal, United ripped ten man Hearts open time and again, with debutant Swanson, Robson and Hunt all coming close. Michael Stewart found himself in the referee's book for a cynical tackle on the edge of the box, and from the resultant free kick United put the game beyond their opponents as Noel Hunt headed home from Robson's curling cross.
With the game over as a contest, United surged forward at every opportunity, and their efforts were rewarded just three minutes from time when Robson broke forward on the counter attack.
Clever footing saw him take the ball past Lee Wallace, and as he raced into the box to pit his wits one on one with Banks in the goal, a blatant trip from Wallace left Alan Freeland little choice but to give the defender a straight red card and point to the penalty spot for the second time in the afternoon.
Robson made no mistake, calmly converting the spot kick to earn himself a hat-trick.
And to round off the game, Michael Stewart, who had been luck to escape a red card just moments earlier, was sent packing in stoppage time, leaving just eight maroon shirts on the park.
Teams:
Dundee United: Szamotulski, Dillon, Dods, Wilkie (Kenneth 90), Flood (Odhiambo 88), Kerr, Grainger, Hunt, Robson (c), D Robertson (Swanson 61), Gomis.
Subs not used: McLean (GK), Conway, Kenneth, Buaben, J Roberston.
Heart of Midlothian:
Banks, Neilson, Wallace, Berra, Driver (Cesnauskis 34), Mikoliunas (Pospisil 81), Velicka, Elliot (Nade 63), Stewart, Zaliukas, Palazeulos.
Subs not used: Basso (GK), Goncalves, Jonsson, McGowan
Referee: Alan Freeman
Attendance: 7,507
Click here for the full report by Craig MacLagan.
Midway through the second half the three points could still have gone either way with the game on a knife-edge at 1-1 after Christosphe Berra's close range strike had cancelled out a bizarre opening goal from Barry Robson.
But a complete lack of discipline from Hearts, who pushed the self-destruct button and finished the game with just eight men, and ruthless finishing from United, meant Craig Levein's men took all three points, ending a disappointing three-game losing streak.
Robson opened the scoring after 23 minutes after Robbie Neilson scuffed a clearance, forcing Steven Banks to collect the ball before it crossed the line. United were awarded an indirect free-kick on the six-yard line and Lee Wilkie squared the ball to skipper Robson, who fired home from the penalty spot through a crowded goal mouth.
Hearts equalised in the closing stages of the first half after Berra poked home a Michael Stewart corner, and neither side would have felt hard done by going in all square at the interval.
It was the visitors who started the second half brightly, creating a string of chances. Calum Elliot thought he had put Hearts ahead in the 51st minute when he calmly slotted home a through ball from Palazuelos which had cut the United defence wide open. He was, however, adjudged to have been offside.
The turning point came in the 67th minute when an off the ball incident between Lee Wilkie and Marius Zaliukas saw the Hearts midfielder shown a straight red card. After several minutes delay, Alan Freeland took the ball off Robbie Neilson who was waiting to take a throw-in and charged towards the box, pointing to the spot.
Robson dismissed the controversial nature of the award and was clinical from the penalty spot, scoring his second bizarre goal of the game.
Buoyed by the goal, United ripped ten man Hearts open time and again, with debutant Swanson, Robson and Hunt all coming close. Michael Stewart found himself in the referee's book for a cynical tackle on the edge of the box, and from the resultant free kick United put the game beyond their opponents as Noel Hunt headed home from Robson's curling cross.
With the game over as a contest, United surged forward at every opportunity, and their efforts were rewarded just three minutes from time when Robson broke forward on the counter attack.
Clever footing saw him take the ball past Lee Wallace, and as he raced into the box to pit his wits one on one with Banks in the goal, a blatant trip from Wallace left Alan Freeland little choice but to give the defender a straight red card and point to the penalty spot for the second time in the afternoon.
Robson made no mistake, calmly converting the spot kick to earn himself a hat-trick.
And to round off the game, Michael Stewart, who had been luck to escape a red card just moments earlier, was sent packing in stoppage time, leaving just eight maroon shirts on the park.
Teams:
Dundee United: Szamotulski, Dillon, Dods, Wilkie (Kenneth 90), Flood (Odhiambo 88), Kerr, Grainger, Hunt, Robson (c), D Robertson (Swanson 61), Gomis.
Subs not used: McLean (GK), Conway, Kenneth, Buaben, J Roberston.
Heart of Midlothian:
Banks, Neilson, Wallace, Berra, Driver (Cesnauskis 34), Mikoliunas (Pospisil 81), Velicka, Elliot (Nade 63), Stewart, Zaliukas, Palazeulos.
Subs not used: Basso (GK), Goncalves, Jonsson, McGowan
Referee: Alan Freeman
Attendance: 7,507
Click here for the full report by Craig MacLagan.
