Brechin City 0
Dundee Utd 2
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Match Report

On his arrival, new manager Ivan Golac stated that his intention was to have United play with Scottish aggression allied to continental skill. Well, on the evidence of this first public airing, United's football was definitely of the continental variety with the utilisation of a sweeper Dave Narey in the first half and Alex Cleland in the second.

There was no Craig Brewster after his proposed move trom Raith Rovers collapsed on the morning of the match, but Torquay United midfielder Chris Myers was fielded as a trialist and after ballooning two shots over the bar early on, the Englishman put us ahead two minutes from half-time when he knocked home a Christian Dailly cut-back from the byeline. Brechln keeper for the day, Stuart Garden, on loan from Tannadice got a hand to it, but couldn't prevent the ball squeezing in at the far post.

The acrobatics of Stuart Garden were to foil his colleagues twenty minutes into the second half. A sweeping move up the right involving Billy McKinlay and substitute Andy McLaren saw the ball transferred into the middle and Christian Dailly's high rising shot was somehow tipped over the bar by Stuart in quite magnificent fashion.

This was his last contribution to the match as Stuart was immediately substituted, but his successor was at fault when United deservedly scored a second 15 minutes from the end. Dave Bowman's high looping cross from the right was headed downwards by Christian Dailly and Smollett allowed the ball to squirm under his body and over the line at his right-hand post.

United had possession for almost the whole match, which meant there wasn't much demand for aggression. That commodity came from Brechin who had McLaren booked for a clash with Billy McKinlay.

At the end Ivan Golac was reasonably satisfied. "It was a good enough performance, considering it was our tirst game. We must play the ball to feet more and I don't want to see so much use of the long ball. Christian Dailly played very well and is a great prospect and Andy McLaren and Paddy Connolly both did well. I liked the look of Alex Cleland in the second half. He reads the game well and has the pace to come from deep. All essential ingredients to become a sweeper."