First Team
Match Report | Rangers 1-1 Dundee United
23rd November 2024
Hearts were the visitors to the HPC at St Andrews for the Young Terrors' third home game on the bounce, as they looked to turn their fortunes around after a poor run of form in recent weeks.
Ryan Moon made two changes to the side that were heavily defeated by Celtic last Friday, both Lewis O’Donnell and Fin Malcolm dropping out of the squad all together due to injury, replaced by Keir Bertie and Stuart Heenan respectively with the former dropping into the base of the three-man United midfield. The visitors, under the guidance of ex-United man John Rankin, lined up in a 5-2-3 with inverted forwards behind the lone striker of Mackenzie Ross.
Hearts’ shape proved difficult for the Young Terrors to deal with in the early stages, the width created by the wingbacks creating gaps between the United back four for midfield runners to exploit. It was through this space that the opening goal was created from after only five minutes. A neat flick from Bobby McLuckie between Leyton Bisland and Jacob Comerford was latched onto by Ross, and he danced his way into the area before being felled by the United centre-half. Murray Thomas stepped up and whipped the spot-kick into the corner, sending Ruaridh Adams the wrong way.
The Jambos could’ve made it two soon after when a scuffed kick from Adams, but McLuckie lobbed his effort the wrong side of the post to spare the ‘keeper’s blushes. United also found themselves outnumbered in midfield and struggled to settle on the ball in central areas.
The first tangerine sighting of goal came after 20 minutes when an exquisite nutmeg from Miller Thomspon fell to MacLeod on the burst from midfield. He laid the ball right to Heenan who dragged his effort narrowly wide of the upright. United continued to press and Heenan went close once more with a glancing header towards the bottom corner which forced an outstanding save from Hearts stopper Liam McFarlane.
United continued to find themselves with a difficult conundrum in defence as they were frequently left three on three at the back when a full-back went to press wide and the visitors sent channel balls in behind.
Adams was called into action after a quiet spell when Adam Forrester found Pollock on the right side of the area, springing into the air to beat away a menacing cross from the Hearts man.
The match swung from end to end as it headed towards the break, and Rory MacLeod went close to drawing United level with a left-footed volley from Bryan Mwangi’s cross. From the goal-kick, Heenan pounced on a loose touch from McLuckie and teed up Craig Moore on the edge of the area. The midfielder took a touch out of his feet before slashing a wayward shot into the trees behind the goal to spurn another good chance for the hosts.
In the second half, Hearts were happy to drop in and maintain their well-organised shape. United found the pressure from the maroon shirts, particularly in midfield, difficult to deal with and possession changing hands after a few seconds was a common sight.
Despite their defensive approach, Rankin’s side carved out a clear-cut chance to kill the game just five minutes after the restart. McLuckie squirmed his way through the challenge of Bisland and his cross ran all the way to the back post for substitute Callum Sandilands. The 16-year-old almost had too much time to think about it and, with an open goal at his mercy, blasted over the bar from all of 4 yards – a real let-off for United.
Substitute Dom Naglik made a positive impact in the second half after replacing the injured Moore as United shifted into a 4-2-3-1, the striker deployed on the right of midfield and adapting admirably. His hold-up and link-up play allowed United to retain possession when going long.
Naglik and Bisland combined on the right to buy valuable seconds for a pass into the feet of MacLeod. The 15-year-old executed a sharp shift onto his favoured left-foot past Forrester and curled a well-struck effort inches past the far post as the frustration began to build.
With 14 minutes to play United clawed themselves back into the contest through an unlikely source. MacLeod’s inswinging corner was a peach and Aaron Donald rose highest in a crowded area to crash the ball into the bottom corner. Game on.
However, soon after, the visitors wrapped up the three points as they hit United on the counter. Hearts skipper Callum Flatman rode the challenges of two United players and slid the ball onto Pollock on the left of the box. He isolated Bisland, jinking away from the right-back and crossing for Ross to tap home from point-blank range.
A couple of half-chances followed, United through MacLeod who went solo and was denied by McFarlane from close range, and Pollock seeing his shot from an acute angle saved by Adams, but the outcome was already decided and the Young Terrors slumped to their third defeat in four games despite their control of the second period.
