St Johnstone 1
Dundee Utd 4
League (SPL)

Match Report

Injuries sustained in Saturday's victory over Dundee rule out Mark Wilson and Jim Hamilton for tonight’s encounter with St Johnstone; replacing those two in the starting XI are David Hannah and Steven Thompson.

United impose themselves on Saints from the kick-off and are first to threaten with Lilley’s snapshot in two minutes. There are half-chances at both ends, but Lilley is one player who will wish he had done better with his effort in 22 minutes, firing a weak left-footed shot at goal for Miller to gather easily. The same player makes amends in 29 minutes with a wonderful goal; McIntyre and Thompson combine to release Derek Lilley on a solo run towards goal. He keeps his cool and fires a low shot past Miller from 10 yards. United make it 2-0 in 37 minutes! Steven Thompson does all the hard work by capitalising on McCluskey’s error before running towards goal and cutting the ball back for Charlie Miller to side-foot home from 12 yards. It gets better for United in 45 minutes when Derek Lilley latches on to a loose ball and fires the ball into the back of the net, again from 12 yards, underneath the body of the advancing Miller.

There is a real lack of fluency to the early stages of the second half due to a number of fouls committed as Saints try to haul themselves back into contention, and it’s from a free-kick that United score their fourth goal. Thompson is upended by McCluskey 20 yards out in 51 minutes; Miller rolls the ball just a few feet and Derek Lilley thunders a terrific shot into the top left hand corner of the net for his hat-trick. Saints make a change in 55 minutes, swapping Jones for Parker. Jim McIntyre is booked in 65 minutes for persistent fouling and conceding the free-kick that Saints engineer a goal from, with Youssouf heading home Hartley’s free-kick. YUnited replace McIntyre with Venetis in 85 minutes and Thompson with Winters four minutes later. Charlie Miller is booked in 90 minutes for a foul on Keigan Parker.