Dundee United move into fourth following victory over Aberdeen at Tannadice on Saturday afternoon.
Aberdeen started brightly, playing some neat passes, before Ronan’s cross directed towards the back post was well defended by United and went out for the game’s first corner. From the resulting corner, the ball went all the way to the back post into Guiness-Walker’s path, whose effort, which was directed towards goal, was once again blocked.
United grew into the game and hit the front on fifteen minutes. Iqbal was given space on the edge of the box, and his effort took a couple of deflections and found the net.
The Dons levelled on twenty-five minutes. Aremu kept the ball alive and the ball eventually broke into Guiness-Walker’s path, who found the net from close range.
United came down the other end and restored their advantage. Muller failed to keep hold of a ball across goal, which forced the Aberdeen goalscorer to put the ball out for a corner. From the resulting corner, Dylan Tait was first to meet the ball at the back post and volleyed the ball past Muller to put United back in front.
The Dons came close to levelling the game once more. Armstrong’s corner was met by Mouloua, who failed to direct his free header on target.
HT: Dundee United 2-1 Aberdeen.
Like the first half, Aberdeen started the second on the front foot. Lewis Smith’s ball was dangerous, and the ball eventually fell into the path of Nisbet, and with his back to goal, went for an overhead kick, which was well blocked.
Tait gave the ball away in a promising area for Aberdeen. Ronan played the ball across goal and picked out Mouloua, who opted to pass the ball to Smith, whose effort from close range was well blocked by Forbes.
The Dons got their reward for a brilliant start to the second period. Smith picked out Ronan, who found himself with acres of space outside the Dundee United box, and the Irishman drilled the ball into the bottom corner.
Aberdeen continued to pile pressure onto the United defence after the equaliser and Lyons came close. The midfielder’s cross was mis hit, however, ended up hitting the bar.
On sixty-two minutes, United, despite a poor start to the second period, found the net. Randall played the ball across goal to Sapsford, who expertly found the net. However, after a VAR review, Bennie was judged to be blocking the goalkeeper’s line of sight in an offside position, and the goal was ruled out.
After the disallowed goal, United started to have more of the ball and did retake the lead. Tait’s cross was met by Sapsford, who found the net and wasn’t to be denied on this occasion.
United nearly put the game to bed, substitute Rose blazed over from close range.
Into additional time, Rose met a cross from Randall, the substitute’s header was goal bound, but Cadden was on hand to clear it off the line.
After four minutes of additional time, the referee drew the game to a close. A quite spectacular game of football at Tannadice.
Dundee United: Walton (5), Esselink (7), Sapsford (8), Tait (10), Iqbal (9), Cameron (8), Forbes (7), Ciubotaru (7), Randall (8), Rawlins (6), Bennie (6)
Substitutes: Amissah, Iovu, Graham, Camara, Rose (5), Farrugia (7), Naamo, Yoro (6), Metsoko.
Aberdeen: Muller (4), Lyons (6), Mouloua (5), Nisbet (7), Armstrong (7), Molloy (6), Milne (5), Guinness-Walker (7), Ronan (7), Cadden (5), Aremu (6)
Substitutes: Klein, Devlin, Briedl, Smith (7), Mahou (5), Olusanya (5), Ntelo, Fasanya, Gyamfi.
Attendance: 10,697
