Dundee Utd 6
Motherwell 1
Scottish Cup (5th Round)
Dundee UtdDundee Utd |
6 - 16 - 1 |
MotherwellMotherwell |
 |
Scottish Cup (5th Round) |
 |
| Goalscorers | |
|
Davie Dodds (10) Davie Dodds (11) Paul Sturrock (14) Davie Dodds (17) Billy Kirkwood (59) Dave Narey (62) |
Gordon Soutar (32) |
| Team Managers | |
|
Jim McLean |
Ally MacLeod |
| Starting Eleven | |
|
Hamish McAlpine Frank Kopel Iain Phillip Dave Narey John Holt Paul Hegarty Ralph Milne Billy Kirkwood Eamonn Bannon Paul Sturrock Davie Dodds |
Hugh Sproat Joe Wark Ian MacLeod Chic McLelland Joe Smith Graeme Forbes Brian McLaughlin Bruce Cleland Willie Irvine Gordon Soutar John Gahagan |
| Bench | |
|
Graeme Payne Willie Pettigrew |
Joe Carson Stuart Rafferty |
| Substitutions | |
|
Graeme Payne for Ralph Milne (53) Willie Pettigrew for Iain Phillip (75) |
Joe Carson for Bruce Cleland (75) |
| Cautions | |
|
Frank Kopel |
Gordon Soutar |
| Red Cards | |
| None. | None. |
| Match Officials | |
|
George Smith (Edinburgh) (Referee) |
Match Report
The Terrors secured a fine win over First Division Motherwell at Tannadice to secure a safe passage into the Scottish Cup Semi Finals.
Motherwell threatened early on, with a Bruce Cleland shot blocked by Hamish McAlpine and Gordon Soutar fired the rebound wide. In the 10th minute United took control, with Davie Dodds scoring his first before adding a second a minute later. Three minutes later Paul Sturrock made it three goals in four minutes with a marvellous first-time shot. In the 17th minute Davie Dodds completed his hat-trick, having scored his three goals in an incredible seven minute spell. Motherwell did pull a goal back in the 32nd minute through Gordon Soutar to make it 4-1 going into half-time.
Fourteen minutes into the second half, Billy Kirkwood made it 5-1, following up after Motherwell keeper Hugh Sproat had failed to hold the ball. Dave Narey completed the scoring in the 62nd minute, hitting home from fully 35 yards out to complete the rout in front of a large crowd as United were assured of progress with plenty to spare.
After the match, the headlines were more about manager Jim McLean's decision to withhold a third of the players entertainment bonus. After stating that the finishing was the best at any time since he took charge of the team, he also claimed that they had been "insufficiently entertaining, with far too many slack moments and that technically they were capable of playing much better".
Squad Statistics (as at March 7th, 1981)
| 1980-81 | All Time | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | Nat |  |
 |
|
|
|
| Hamish McAlpine (GK) | 33 |
|
44 | - | 453 | 3 |
| Iain Phillip | 30 |
|
36 | - | 85 | 1 |
| John Holt | 24 |
|
23 | 1 | 132 | 11 |
| Frank Kopel | 31 |
|
37 | - | 377 | 13 |
| Dave Narey | 24 |
|
42 | 2 | 326 | 22 |
| Paul Hegarty | 26 |
|
44 | 8 | 282 | 47 |
| Eamonn Bannon | 22 |
|
41 | 8 | 72 | 12 |
| Billy Kirkwood | 22 |
|
33 | 7 | 157 | 35 |
| Ralph Milne | 19 |
|
21 | 7 | 42 | 10 |
| Davie Dodds | 22 |
|
31 | 20 | 109 | 42 |
| Paul Sturrock | 24 |
|
44 | 19 | 263 | 74 |
| Graeme Payne (sub) | 25 |
|
34 | 4 | 264 | 17 |
| Willie Pettigrew (sub) | 27 |
|
25 | 7 | 75 | 29 |
League Table (as at March 7th, 1981)
| Pld | W | D | L | +/- | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Celtic | 26 | 19 | 2 | 5 | +29 | 40 |
| 2. | Aberdeen | 27 | 15 | 8 | 4 | +30 | 38 |
| 3. | Rangers | 25 | 11 | 10 | 4 | +22 | 32 |
| 4. | DUNDEE UTD | 26 | 12 | 8 | 6 | +16 | 32 |
| 5. | St Mirren | 27 | 11 | 8 | 8 | +7 | 30 |
| 6. | Partick Th | 27 | 8 | 9 | 10 | -9 | 25 |
| 7. | Morton | 27 | 8 | 7 | 12 | -15 | 23 |
| 8. | Airdrie | 27 | 6 | 9 | 12 | -15 | 21 |
| 9. | Hearts | 26 | 3 | 6 | 17 | -26 | 12 |
| 10. | Kilmarnock | 26 | 2 | 7 | 17 | -39 | 11 |
| League results since United's last match |
|---|
| 4th March 1981 |
|---|
| St Mirren | 2-1 | Airdrie |
| 7th March 1981 |
|---|
| Aberdeen | 4-1 | Hearts |
| Airdrie | 2-0 | Partick Th |
| St Mirren | 1-1 | Kilmarnock |
Manager's Programme Notes
Good afternoon and welcome to another Tannadice occasion, vital to the club — with the prospect of money spinning ties ahead as the reward for victory. And I see today's quarter-final clash against Motherwell as potentially one of the most entertaining ninety minutes of the term so far. My reason is simple. The Fir Park outlook, especially under present boss Ally MacLeod, has seldom looked other than to the firm belief that attack is the best form of defence. Therefore the memory of their tremendous fight against us in the League Cup earlier in the season allied to their determination towards a positive approach to any game, should assist towards a crowd-pleaser.
Needless to say our recent continuation along the winning lines has been encouraging — if not altogether satisfying! Three successive single-goal winning margins emphasise the too close for comfort aspect of these performances when in my opinion we played only for around half of the allotted spans of each game. To offset the inconsistencies displayed by several of the side in these games I have sought to pressure the offenders by introdudng a change or two each week. Therefore I have continually attempted to get through to the side the message that recent opponents have taken us so close simply because of our own failure to maintain their true potential — for the entire game!
Finally, thanks are again due to you, our support, for your appreciation and patience at recent home games to the problems faced nowadays at Premier League level. The effect of your wholehearted backing is getting through to those that matter — the players.