M'gladbach 2
Dundee Utd 0
UEFA Cup (2nd Round 1st Leg)

Match Report

For their UEFA Cup second round tie, United headed to Germany for the 1st leg to face one of the top clubs in Europe who had reached five European finals over the past decade. With Paul Sturrock and Graeme Payne still struggling with injuries, manager Jim McLean stuck with the same starting eleven that picked up a point against Celtic at the weekend.

United sat back early on, allowing the confident Germans to build from deep in their own half, and in the 15th minute Hamish McAlpine easily held a Frank Schäffer header. A minute later Eamonn Bannon came to the rescue to clear from Jürgen Fleer as they looked to score. Uwe Rhan then collected a Joh Holt clearance to shoot wide before Frank Kopel blocked a Hans-Günter Bruns close range effort. Just before the break Frank Mill went down in the box after a tackle from Davie Dodds, but with the referee dismissing the claim, Wolfram Wuttke was booked for his protests.

After a fantastic defensive display in the first half, United nearly took the lead within a couple of minutes of the restart, with a Ralph Milne header from a Kopel cross going just past the post. A minute later Milne raced down the wing to set up Bannon, who was just inches away from beating the out-rushing keeper. United now looked the more likely to score, and Dodds flicked to Milne who's right foot shot was stopped by Kleff. However, with 20 minutes to go, Frank Schäffer rose to head a corner from the right past McAlpine. Then in the 87th minute another corner was met by the head of Wilfried Hannes to put the Germans two up.

United left themselves with an uphill battle after what had looked to be a very controlled and accomplished performance was ruined by a final twenty minutes in which two headed goals were enough to put United in a precarious position ahead of the second leg at Tannadice.