Dundee Utd 4
Hearts 1
League (Division One)

Manager's Programme Notes

After three successive defeats from Dunfermline, Aberdeen and Ayr, we now find ourselves faced with a hard, hard time ahead if a reasonable League place is to be won. With only five goals in the last six games a great deal of the blame for our plight at the present time must rest on the shoulders of the forwards. This fact was clearly underlined in the game at Somerset Park last week.

Without exaggeration, we had nearly all the play yet could not come up with any punch in front of goal. I have every sympathy for the defence as every man played steadily and the loss of one goal away from home is quite acceptable by any standards.

But, without ever looking dangerous, Ayr won the game with that one goal and another two valuable points evaded us.

The unlucky man of the day was lan Scott, back in the side after a spell
in the reserves. lan went for a mid-field ball in the air then followed up after it only to clash with an Ayr man and the result was a broken nose.

This afternoon we welcome Bobby Seith to Tannadice for the first time as
Hearts manager and, with only four home games remaining we find ourselves
desperate to win. In the past the Tynecastle men have always put one across us here and in the last three meetings they have come out with three points.
We simply must improve on our record against them and a repeat of the of the fighting display shown against Kilmarnock last month would do the
trick, I'm sure.

In the coming weeks our programme sees us meet teams at both ends of the table and there's little doubt every team will give us a hard time. But the gap betweeen us and clubs in the top eight could be bridged with some dedication and effort.

As I said earlier the forwards have been right out of touch lately, a fault which can be traced back to the cup game with Aberdeen. In almost every game since, we have more than held our own only to throw away the points because of the lack of killer instinct around goals. The players know full well,
goals only can win games, and from now until the end of the season we must show much more aggression if anything is to be achieved.

However, I do feel more encouragement from the fans could help the players. They are currently going through a sticky spell and whole-hearted support would be a great boost for them.