Lee Wilkie Goes Both Ways: United 2-1 Caley

By: Ian Rose | October 4th, 2008

A disappointing result, but a fair one, I’d say. Maybe I’m bad luck for the Caley boys. Last week, I skip a match and sleep in, and it’s a 3-1 comeback win over Killie. This week, I make an effort to watch, and we lose. To be fair, this was Dundee United’s match almost all the way through, and they deserved the victory. Our crossing was rubbish, and our finishing was the rubbish that normal, everyday rubbish turns up its nose at.

To explain the title, I hold no ill will toward Lee Wilkie, and in no way question his orientation. Wilkie scored United’s second goal, and then was credited with an own goal in the dying minutes to save Caley from a shutout. Cheers, Lee.

The match started with two 4-4-2 formations staring each other down. Brewster chose from our cadre of underperforming young strikers the duo of Andrew Barrowman and Dougie Imrie, along with a midfield of Black, Cowie, McBain and Vigurs, and a back four of Tokely, Hastings, Munro and Duff. It’s a good lineup in the back and the middle, but once more Barrowman and Imrie have failed to do what their admittedly meager Caley paychecks demand – they have failed to score goals.

For the first half-hour, it was a pretty even match. United were getting the better chances, but they were being either squandered or handled well by Mikey Fraser in goal. Caley looked capable of pulling something off, if not likely, but already the cracks were evident. Cross after cross was missing its target, or in some cases leaving the field of play entirely. Our few chances in front of goal were going begging, with their goalmouth itself seeming to be the safest place in Dundee, hardly in need of a keeper at all.

In the 40th minute, our hopes for holding onto a stalemate were dashed by an all-Irish connection, as Sean Dillon’s cross found Jon Daly’s head, and it was 1-0 to United. That’s how it went to the half, with a late corner for Caley wasted as Barrowman committed an unnecessary foul in the box. I’m beginning to wonder about the boy’s famous temper, and whether it could use some bench time.

At half-time, Ian Black stayed off, apparently with a knock of some sort. Losing Ian would be a big deal for Caley, and everyone wearing the colors today should ask their diety of choice for health and long life for Mr. Black.

The second half was, from the whistle, a United power play. Duff and Munro seemed completely unable to control the Terrors’ attack (and you thought the Wilkie pun was in bad taste…), and they got chance after chance from close-in. Only Fraser’s competence in goal prevented more than one going in, but Wilkie was able to get one past after the hour mark, and it was 2-0.

To Craig Brewster’s credit, he made what I consider to be the smartest reaction to a 2-0 scoreline at that point in a game – he went for a full-on attack. Hoping the luck of the Irish would be universal on the day, he put Adam Rooney in for Roy McBain, giving Caley a 4-3-3 just as United took off a forward to bolster their midfield to five. For a while, it seemed a winning strategy, and for ten minutes it was all Caley. The problem (cue broken record) was finishing. Whether it was Imrie, Barrowman, or even Don Cowie, the last touch was the worst for anyone in a Caley shirt today. We had them on their heels, and they didn’t stop us – we stopped ourselves.

As time died away, a Barry Wilson corner kick fell to both Lee Wilkie and Garry Wood, who came on late for Barrowman. Wood had his chance to prove he was better than the fourth-place squad striker, which I believe he may be, especially as the standards of the first three aren’t exactly flying high. But Wilkie stole his thunder and put it away for him.

Frankly, 2-1 is a kind scoreline for the level of play we showed out there today. 2-0 would have probably been the deserved scoreline. But as it is, we remain in the positive for goal difference (+1), and I’ll take that as a small victory. In comparing this to last season, this is yet another fixture that we won last year and lost this time around. We have four more points than we did last season at this time, but eight fewer than we did after these same fixtures last season. Those are going to come around and bite us, no matter what the current table says.

Season Progress:
At this point last season: 8 matches played, 6 points, 8 goals for, 19 goals against
This season: 8 matches played, 10 points, 10 goals for, 9 goals against

Comparable fixtures last season: 8 matches played, 18 points, 13 goals for, 5 goals against
Comparable fixtures this season: 8 matches played, 10 points, 10 goals for, 9 goals against