It was the unchanged eleven that looked so dangerous four days earlier who kicked off facing the empty South Stand after United choose to switch ends. For the first ten minutes we looked superb. Within two minutes we had two corners and a couple of efforts on goal. United hardly had a kick as we passed the ball into and around their box . The first free kick took 13 minutes to arrive as an indication of the type of game.
The visitors had Daly and McLean in central defence and they marshalled Higdon well throughout. Mackay-Steven and Russell led their line and it was clear that they were going to rely on breakaways and pace to threaten our goal. And so it proved. We lost possession after a corner and Mackay-Steven set off on a 40 yard run with our men chasing his shadow. He found Russell with a perfect cross field pass and Randolph was beaten.
In truth we never looked like scoring. We had lots of possession in the last third but had little to do. We seemed unable to cope with the expectation that followed Faddy's arrival and there was a nervousness about the team. Hateley and Higginbotham were out of sorts but they were not the only ones.
As for McFadden, he was cheered as the Voice in the Sky call the teams, when he appeared for a warm up with the other substitutes, when he joined the game in 71 minutes and there was a buzz anytime he had the ball. His goal attempt from a set piece knocked Russell flat from the wall.
Randolph thoroughly deserved his man of the match award with a series of fine saves as we threw everything forward in the last quarter. He was helped by three goal line clearances from his team-mates when united should have killed the game.
McCall's post match comments were to the point. "Typical, everyone gets built up and we disappoint", but he added, "We'll be fully focussed for the trip to Dingwall".