Derby shut-out lifts managerless Saints

Oct 25 2011 Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

NO DEL and Doc yelping commands from the technical area but the teamlines logged at Tannadice were no different from what the departed duo would have drawn-up for the Tayside derby.

The first 90 minutes of the post McInnes era wasn’t exactly pulsating but caretakers Jody Morris and Alec Cleland chiselled out a decent point and a seventh SPL clean sheet.

The stand-ins could have led Saints into third place on their own for the first time since the Sandy Clark days had they crafted a victory in Beanoland. But ultimately the outcome suited both parties, with United plugging the recent defensive leaks and Saints, minus injured Cillian Sheridan, engineering very few genuine goalscoring opportunities.

With McInnes and Docherty in Bristol, Saints were operating under new management but given the calibre of the players they have left behind there was never likely to be a collapse in morale or lack of commitment to the cause.

With Sheridan and Murray Davidson laid-up the managerial strategy was along the lines of if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

But the enforced absence of the on-loan Irishman impacted on Fran Sandaza, whose relationship with Canadian Marcus Haber is in its infancy and very much a work in progress.

The Spaniard was denied the chance to celebrate on his return to his old stomping ground, with one decent chance squandered and a caution coming his way for an extravagant dive which would have generated headlines if referee Alan Muir had been duped.

St Johnstone’s star turn was defender Steven Anderson, who exorcised any demons lingering from previous traumas against his first professional club. He was the rock on which United attacks invariably foundered.

United did come closest to a winner three minutes after the interval when centre-half Kenneth lined-up a 30-yard potshot which clipped the crossbar with keeper Enckelman an onlooker.

And Finnish attacker Dalla Valle flashed a couple of headers off target when his manager expected him to work his fellow countryman in the visitors’ goal.

Saints defender Fraser Wright also raised pulse rates in the away section when he slashed a clearance over his own bar in the first-half in the 31st minute.

The former Killie man might have headed Saints in front two minutes later but powered his 10-yard effort over from a pinpoint Callum Davidson delivery.

In the 51st minute Sandaza did have a rare chance to nail the three points when Liam Craig’s head flick on another Davidson cross was half-cleared but Sandaza’s touch from a tight angled struck Dixon’s leg on the line.

An otherwise rock solid Enckelman got lucky in the 64th minute when he came for a Watson cross into the danger zone. His punch missed the ball but the lights went out for luckless Douglas, who probably didn’t know what day it was when he was replaced.

A flurry of substitutions ensued and Saints twice came close.

Sandaza wheeled away from Kenneth to chase a Wright pass down the line but threw himself at United defender Gunning in the penalty area and sheepishly accepted the caution.

And with 11 minutes remaining, a glorious pass threaded through the heart of the United defence by Millar picked out Carl Finnigan. He shuttled it onto Sandaza but the striker had to settle for a corner with Finnigan wondering why the ball wasn’t returned to him.

After that there seemed little prospect of either side making the breakthrough, although in stoppage time Chris Millar was denied by a superb Dixon block when he pounced to line-up a shot from Willie Gibson’s cross and then the keeper gripped Dave Mackay’s rising strike.

DUNDEE UTD: Pernis, Dixon, Kenneth, Flood (Allan 81), Robertson, Daly, Rankin, Watson, Douglas (Russell 65), Gunning and Dalla Valle (Dow 77). Subs not used: Banks, Armstrong, Mackay-Steven and Barrett.

SAINTS: Enckelman, Mackay, Davidson, Anderson, Wright, Morris, Haber (Finnigan 65), Millar, Moon, Sandaza and Craig (Gibson 80). Subs not used: Mannus, Maybury, Caddis, May and Durnan.

REFEREE: Alan Muir.