Life after Goodwillie begins on a firm footing

ALASDAIR REID at TYNECASTLE

THIS was a match to soothe those troubled Dundee United fans who came to Tynecastle in a lather of anxiety over the impending loss of David Goodwillie. In the end, their boisterous celebrations did more than mark the fact that their side had claimed their first Clydesdale Bank Premier League victory of the season, for they had also been reassured that the world without Goodwillie might not look so bleak after all.

Jon Daly's 37th-minute goal was calming enough, taken as it was with all the emphatic power of one of Goodwillie's better efforts, but there had also been heartwarming displays from Scott Allan and Willo Flood. All things considered, the most significant part of Goodwillie's move away from Tayside is that it will bring cash into United's coffers; from a playing perspective on this showing, it doesn't seem that they'll miss him at all.

Daly wished his former team-mate well, but his words at full-time backed up his deeds on the pitch. "He's a great player but one player doesn't make a team," said the strapping Irishman. "Blackburn have done well to get a player of his quality, but we knew that we could cope without him. We're going to have to cope without him. He's a fantastic player, but it gives boys a chance to come in and show what they're about. Hopefully the money that the gaffer gets can be used to bring in a couple of players."

Daly's goal came just after Allan had been denied the opener by a wonderful save by Marian Kello, the Hearts goalkeeper. Sadly, the home side's defenders could not match the heroics of their man between the sticks, and Marius Zaliukas was particularly culpable in taking his eye off Daly when Flood swept a corner over from the right side. Advancing strongly, the unattended Daly met the ball perfectly, giving Kello no chance of making another brilliant stop.

"Zaliukas is normally pulling at you and tugging the jersey, but on that one occasion he left me free and obviously paid for it," Daly explained. "But it was a great ball in from Willo and I didn't have to do much to redirect it as the pace was on the ball."

If only Hearts had even a fraction of that composure when they were in the United box. They worked their way into decent positions, but they messed up a succession of opportunities when they got there. Stephen Elliott had a particularly horrible time of it, twice sending the ball lamely into the arms of United goalkeeper Dusan Pernis when slamming it into the back of the net looked the easier option. Pernis, as Peter Houston, the Dundee United manager observed afterwards, did not have a lot to do all afternoon in the capital.

Hearts bustled away energetically enough, few more strenuously than the fiery Ian Black, but United looked more and more comfortable as the match moved closer to its conclusion. Jim Jefferies, the Hearts manager, was surely flattering his charges – they do have a critical European tie against Paksi at Tynecastle on Thursday evening – when he suggested that they should have been ahead at half-time, but he conceded that United had far too easy a time of it in defence after the break.

Indeed, United could easily have added a second goal in the first period when John Rankin, who had just been felled on the edge of the box (on the line, claimed Houston) by Adrian Mrowiec, fired a wicked free-kick to the far corner of the goal, only to see it rattle back off the crossbar. A few minutes later, Allan made a marvellous break from the middle of the pitch, but the precision of his final pass to Johnny Russell did not match the power of his running in the build-up.

"You always know you're going to get a tough day here at Tynecastle," said Houston. "And it was a tough game. We had to survive some good pressure from Hearts in the first half when they pushed their full-backs forward, but I changed the shape of the team a wee bit.

"For the first 25 minutes of the second half we looked like the team that was going to score, rather than Hearts. It was a hard-fought three points, but thoroughly merited."

Scorer. Daly (38)

Taken from the Herald