Jon Daly's golden ball like Beckham in his prime

There is more than just a chance that Dundee United captain Jon Daly won't thank teammate Willo Flood for making the comparison.

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Indeed, it is likely that Flood will be giving his fellow Irishman a wide berth at training today, having guaranteed a barrowload of stick will be heading Daly's way because of his words.

However, there WAS just a touch of a David Beckham delivery about the cross sent over by Daly for Scott Robertson's winning goal for United against Hearts at Tannadice on Saturday.

The big striker strode down the right wing with just under 24 minutes gone after being picked out by a Robertson forward pass. He had to bide his time until the midfielder made a lung-bursting run into the penalty box.

Daly then landed the ball smack-bang on his colleague's diving head to set up the only goal of the game.

The cross certainly impressed Flood, who claimed it reminded him of those often fired in by England superstar Beckham.

''Big Dinks (Daly) put a ball in like Becks and I didn't think he had that in his locker,'' said a smiling Flood. ''I think the skip showed great attributes even though he didn't get the goal himself. It was a great ball in and Scotty finished it well.''

It was Robertson's first goal since December 2008, and the hope for United boss Peter Houston is that there are a lot more to follow from him.

''It is not often you see Jon Daly running down the channels and putting the crosses into the box — you normally like him in the box,'' said Houston. ''But we always encourage midfield players to get into the box and Scott Robertson is capable of that. I would just like to see him doing it a bit more.''

After playing so well in their previous outing only to get less than they deserved — a 3-1 defeat to Rangers — the Tangerines arguably got a bit more than they merited on Saturday.

Hearts, who have been toiling with off-field troubles, were tough opponents and they had a lot of the ball, just as United did at Ibrox. But the Tangerines were extremely happy with a result that put them just two points behind the Edinburgh men in the SPL.

''We have been criticised a lot recently for our defending but the boys — right from the front, not just the back four — defended well,'' said Houston. ''I have to give great credit to the players because they dug in, they worked very hard and scored a good goal.''

Houston was also extremely complimentary about the opposition for the way they performed.

''I felt we were playing against a really good Hearts team,'' he said. ''I have to compliment them. I thought they played quite well at times and we had to dig deep to get that result.

''They had plenty of possession in the second half and they camped in our half at times. The pleasing thing for me was that they never got through and our goalkeeper was decent as well.

''But credit to the Hearts players because in difficult times they have put that to the back of their minds and put up a good performance. I would say we were a wee bit fortunate to get three points.''

Flood agreed it wasn't the bonniest of displays from United but there was enough to suggest they can also take something from their next two tough tests — away to Motherwell this weekend then at home to Celtic.

''We ground it out,'' he admitted. ''I don't think the football was that great but it was a good team performance. We dug deep and I think that is us coming back to ourselves now.

''We went to Ibrox, played really well and didn't get anything. So I will definitely take this victory over that.

''We do have a tough set of games, everybody has been saying that. What we did do is show a lot of determination and commitment and those kind of things get you through these tough spells. Now we are looking forward to going to Motherwell next Saturday.''

Jam Tarts manager Paulo Sergio didn't give any post-match opinion as the club is still operating a media black-out.

Taken from The Courier