First Team
All The Info | Rangers (A)
22nd November 2024
The Terrors head for the Highlands this weekend, facing 11th-placed Ross County at the Global Energy Stadium.
Overview
After raising eyebrows with their top-six finish last season, the Staggies endured a barren beginning to their 2022/23 cinch Premiership campaign - claiming just two wins from the first circuit round the houses as they saw off St Mirren and Livingston.
County have scored the fewest amount of goals in the top flight, rippling the net a mere 20 times in 26 matches. Physically imposing striker Jordan White, formerly of Highland rivals Inverness Caledonian Thistle, has six of those goals to his name.
The absence of wing duo Regan Charles-Cook and Joe Hungbo has had a detrimental impact for Malky Mackay's men, with those two alone having 20 goals split between them last season. 13 strikes was enough for the former to claim a joint golden boot award with ex-Celtic frontman Giorgious Giakoumakis.
United have lost just one of their last 13 meetings with County, and have gone almost eight years without a league defeat in Dingwall. In that time, the Terrors have scored 20 goals, whilst keeping five clean sheets at the other end.
The most dramatic of all of those previous clashes came at the culmination of a 2022/22 season full of twists and turns, with United securing a place in the UEFA Europa Conference League Third-Qualifying Round with the last kick of the game in front of a bumper Arab contingent.
Earlier this season, Tony Watt's second-half strike levelled the arrears as we could only leave the Global Energy Stadium with a solitary point - but a rampant 3-0 victory during the festive period in the reverse fixture gave Liam Fox's men a major jolt into the arm heading into the second half of the season.
Watch the story of the match here!
Rounding off the year in style - let's kick on in 2023, together ????
— Dundee United FC (@dundeeunitedfc) December 29, 2022
???? | #DUFC pic.twitter.com/vBBXRpfeMF
Talking Tactics
Route One is the methodology preferred by McKay, with his side making the most long balls in the division - a staggering 84 per match - focusing most of them down the right-hand side of the pitch.
Ross County have the fewest shots on target per 90 in the division, with a measly 2.3, yet face the highest rate of efforts at their goal - 16.8 per 90.
After the addition of Eamonn Brophy from St Mirren in January, the Dingwall outfit have made the switch to a 3-4-1-2 from 4-2-3-1, as Brophy looks to strike up a fruitful partnership with White alongside him. They are supported by former Swansea City and Liverpool starlet Yan Dhanda in the number ten role, who has a respectable five assists to his name.
If You Know Your History
Despite being a club in relative infancy, United have clashed with County 38 times since 1998.
In 2010, the Terrors met Ross County in the Scottish Cup Final after they claimed a shock victory over Celtic in the last four. Lightning didn't strike twice for the Highlanders however, succumbing to a 3-0 drubbing at a sun-drenched Hampden as we raised the trophy aloft for the second time in our history.
One of our silver-kissing heroes from that day, Keith Watson, has over a century of appearances for both clubs.
Club legend Sean Dillon is our record appearance holder in this fixture, playing in almost half of our match-ups with County, whilst Nicky Clark leads the scoring charts with seven.
Memorable Matchup
Despite playing half an hour with ten men and faced with the task of overturning a 2-1 deficit, United progressed to Hampden against all odds.
Spurred on by a boisterous United support, Henri Anier restored parity on 65 minutes with a tidy close-range finish before Billy McKay stepped forward to send all of a tangerine persuasion into raptures.
With the pressure mounting inside second-half stoppage time, Blair Spittal's inch-perfect cross found the head of McKay who sent a diving header through the legs of Gary Woods.
Watch the highlights below!
One To Watch
Striker Eamonn Brophy headed up the A9 with the hopes of rediscovering his form from the other end of the country with Kilmarnock and kickstarting his career back into life.
The 26-year-old struggled for game time with a high-flying St Mirren side but hit the ground running immediately after his loan switch north as he found the back of the net in a comfortable 3-0 victory over former side Killie.
A one-time Scotland cap, Brophy sits near the top end of the Scottish Premiership charts for shots per game since joining the Staggies, with 2.7.
