Appearances & Goals To Date

Kevin Main (GK)		12 apps	-
Johnny Crawford		97 apps	5 goals
Craig McKeown		92 apps	19 goals
Stuart Anderson		169 apps	31 goals
Graeme Rodger		139 apps	48 goals
Andrew Greig		19 apps	8 goals
Ryan Stott		1 app (debut)	-
Archie MacPhee		44 apps	33 goals
Gary Fraser		1 app (debut)	1 goal
Kieran Lawrence		27 apps	2 goals
Garry Wood		103 apps	53 goals
Stuart Smith (sub)		195 apps	18 goals
Liam Burnett (sub)		44 apps	7 goals
Conor Gethins (sub)		70 apps	28 goals

Starting Lineup

Matchday Squad

First Team Debuts

	Gary Fraser	(Signed July 16th, 2018)
	Ryan Stott	(Signed June 1st, 2018)

Milestones

After a barnstorming conclusion to last season where United won 16 games on the bounce to gain the runner up spot in the league and lifted two cups, the climate of expectation surrounding them in this opening game of the 18/19 season was inevitably high. Against Nairn, who finished in the mid spot of the table, they started strong favourites. The expectation was of victory and there was as much interest expressed about the likely scale of it and how it would be achieved, as in whether it actually would be achieved – a dangerous situation for any players or management who fall prey to that sort of hype. This squad of players look to be very level headed and clearly approached this game in a highly determined and firmly focussed mind set. They are, or have become hype resistant. They look to be real professionals.

Nairn were not there simply to make up the numbers and were the first to show. With less than 2 minutes played Urquhart in pursuit of a long ball from the back managed to get past defenders to a position right of centre and off loaded a stinging drive on target that was hard enough for Main to elect to palm the ball away two handed for a corner. However that was simply the precursor of a stinging riposte from United who set about mounting wave upon wave of attack on the visiting rearguard. Greig was sharp, fast and uber tricky on the left flank and Stott, if anything even faster on the other. MacPhee was leading the line and generally directing forward play while newcomer Gary Fraser, playing like an old fashioned deep-lying centre forward showed what an asset his obviously astute football brain is to the team. A shot on the turn from MacPhee had Maclean going down sharply to make the save. In the 7th minute a curler from Stott who seems to have more of these than a hair salon had MacLean scrambling to push the ball away from his back post.

United were pouring on the pressure spreading the ball the whole width of the pitch and maintaining a high tempo in the process had Nairn struggling to hold their defensive shape and line. In the 9th minute Greig wreaked some havoc on the left: after skinning Dingwall he managed to cut in just in front of Maclean to give himself the space from which to deliver a superbly judged cross to find the head of FRASER whose consummately timed run put him in the perfect position to head the ball hard and accurate beyond the reach of MacLeans outstretched right arm.

Although United had been playing as if there was little pressure upon them, expectation is pressure of its own and the best antidote to that is an early goal. It made little difference to Nairn who were struggling really to do more than simply cope with the free flowing high tempo football that United were delivering. United were calling the shots and their waves of attack persisted. Crawford and Lawrence did not venture as far forward or as often as anticipated but United were playing (almost) with two dedicated wingers in Stott and Greig. Anderson was almost imperious in the way he linked defence with midfield and attack from a base just ahead of the back four. Rodger was his usual rumbustious self in central midfield and Nairn were struggling.

They held out until the 20th minute when after a period of intense pressure in and around the Nairn penalty area, MacPhee found the combination to unpick the visiting defence. Fully occupying all three of Ramsay, MacLean and Glenn Main, he created space to his left into which snuck ANDERSON. Despite the best endeavours of the three defenders the slippery Islander slipped the ball the few yards to his captain who from about 12 yards range skelped the ball accurately past the reach of the keeper for number two.

The way United were playing the expectation was that they could or even should have gone on to win this one and maintain a clean sheet in the process. However impressive though their overall performance was, it was the first game of the season and unlikely to be error free. Errors were remarkably infrequent but a lack of communication between midfield and defence let Urquhart collect a ball more or less unchallenged out on the right about 10 yards into United territory and progress it to a position right of the box before MacKENZIE drove it home past Main.

Coming only two minutes after Uniteds second goal, this could have been enough to alter the balance of the game but United were resilient and having none of that. They simply resumed their offensive and again locked Nairn back in their own back yard. It took only five minutes of this for them to restore their two goal margin. Nairn had serious difficulty in trying to contain Graeme Roger in midfield and had began to dish out some meaty challenges (some of them more skink than sirloin; others just offal), but he simply shrugged off whatever they put his way and bursting forward through the middle he saw off both Main and Porrits attempts to thwart his progress and made his way to the box before releasing the ball forward right for GREIG to finish. The keeper advanced to close him down but the wide man despatched the ball back along the line of the keeper and into the net behind him for 3-1.

United continued to boss things until the interval and could or should have gone in a couple of more goals to the good. More or less everyone bar the ref and standside linesman could see that the result of 34th minute stramash in the Nairn goal mouth was that keeper MacLean grabbed the ball from a fair few feet over the goal line before getting up on his hind legs and disposing of it up the park. An aggrieved United simply got on with it. A couple of corners where both centre backs McKeown and Wood) joined the forward fray caused mayhem before the ball was cleared and MacPhee close to the interval found a tight angled shot from close to the left upright missing narrowly.

The second half saw United continuing to press but Nairn having effectively abandoned hopes of victory settle for a more damage limitation approach by attempting to crowd the midfield. It may have reduced the goal chances a little but what really stood between The wee County and a big clobbering was the performance of keeper MacLean who pulled off a string of top drawer saves to keep the score at a reasonably respectable level. One came after what would have been an outstanding goal when Stott made a blistering solo run down the fright, crossed to MacPhee whose thumping shot was somehow blocked by the keeper and another when a fierce drive from Fraser was tipped over at full stretch for a corner.

United were however worth more than a two goal win and the score line was completed in the 70th minute. There is some dispute about where the goal credit lies but the events are clear enough. From 20 odd yards out left of centre, Fraser leathered in a drive that the otherwise very reliable MacLean made a bit of horlicks of and let the ball spin from his hands to rebound from the underside of the bar. Before it could reach terra firma, both Anderson and Wood were onto it and the ball landed well over the goal line. Wood claims to have had the last touch with a header (but was it over the line or not by then?) and the ref says it was Ando but he is not making any claim to it himself. Others think it was a fierce shot by Fraser; the keeper could not hold it and it went into the net via the underside of the bar. FACKENS is therefore credited with his first for United.

United continued to dominate until the end. This was a highly encouraging performance from United. They look to have bought wisely in Stott and Fraser and to have strengthened since last season. There is clear championship potential but converting that into the league flag is still a huge step to take.

Match report by Colin Keenan



Photography by Ian Rennie

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