Dundee United 1-0 Motherwell: United take huge step towards Europe

Dundee United are closing in on “the ultimate objective” of securing fourth place, says head coach Thomas Courts, after a narrow Scottish Premiership victory over Motherwell at Tannadice.

United are now three points clear of fifth-place Ross County and four above Motherwell with three games left.

“It’s a big result,” said Courts.

“I’m pleased to say the boys really stepped up. We’ve got a really big incentive to get points on the board and keep ourselves in that fourth position.”

Motherwell, who have just one win in 15 games since the turn of the year, were menacing on the counter-attack throughout the first half and looked the most likely side to take the lead.

Ross Tierney got in behind early on, after Liam Smith failed to deal with a routine long ball, but his strike rattled off of the post.

The visitors were again denied by the woodwork when Callum Slattery raced towards goal and the ball fell to Kaiyne Woolery, whose curling effort struck the bar.

The deadlock was broken against the run of play with the game’s first shot on target.

Tony Watt, Archie Meekison and Levitt combined well on the edge of the box with intricate and effective one-touch passing. A brilliant flick from Meekison allowed Marc McNulty to tee up Levitt, whose strike took a fortuitous deflection to loop over helpless Liam Kelly for the midfielder’s second goal in as many games.

The away side continued to threaten on the break and Connor Shields was beaten to a through ball by the onrushing Benjamin Siegrist in the second half.

Then Tierney’s attempt to chip the out-of-position Siegrist floated into the grateful goalkeeper’s hands.

Ricki Lamie and Tierney both went close late on for Motherwell but they could not find a leveller.

Man of the match – Dylan Levitt

What did we learn?

As it has been for a while now, the race for Europe is more of a slow meander. United’s win is massively important but was never comfortable.

Motherwell looked a good side on the counter-attack but lacked finesse in their finishing, registering only two shots on target from 12 attempts.

In contrast, United’s goal was their only real clear-cut chance and they profited from it. With Motherwell hitting the post twice prior to going behind, they will undoubtedly regret their wastefulness in front of goal.

What they said

Dundee United head coach Thomas Courts: “I think we did [deserve that]. It was really nice to see us return to a controlled style of play.

“We had three young academy graduates starting the game, Charlie Mulgrew at 37 years old playing midfield, so that’s just where we are at this stage of the season.”

Motherwell manager Graham Alexander: “Yes, we should have got something out of the game. I thought the players were excellent today.

“We then started to dominate for the last half hour or 25 minutes and had some great opportunities there. It’s a disappointing result but I was so happy with the players because they were excellent.”

What’s next?

Dundee United are away to Rangers on Sunday, 8 May (15:00 BST) while Motherwell visit Ross County 24 hours earlier.