A day of the week

What is it about Dundee United this season? In the first home game against them a shocking penalty kick is given away (the less said about the game at Tannadice the better). And so it was to be the case again on Saturday. But lets take nothing away from the match itself, as it was very entertaining and exactly what we should be seeing week in week out.

A healthy crowd was inside Pittodrie for this 'Europa Cup' qualification clash! Ricky Foster was dropped too (which is always a bonus). And as usual, the Dons get off to the worst possible start, with Diamond making a right pigs ear of a simple passback and tangling with Sandaza in the box who goes down looking like he's been shot. Penalty. Typical. 1-0 down.

Did the heads go down though? No, most certainly not. The Dons literally ran the show for the rest of the half, and indeed the entire match, creating a sucession of good chances on a far from perfect pitch.

Our just rewards came right from the kick off with a great move ended by a lucky deflection off Severin and into the net. 1-1! Lets go on and win this. But no, as on many an occasion this season we switch off and gift the opposition a howler of a goal. See the hightlights here as I don't want to go over it again. Back to square one. But again we fought back and created a sucession of good chances, the best of which fell to Miller, whose header crashed back off the bar.

It was probably justice that Diamond popped up on the end of a Mulgrew free kick (both players at fault for the United goals)to nod in the equaliser and give the Dons a well deserved point. Coupled by the fact Hearts were held to a draw and it's as you were in the race for Europe.

Kilmarnock on Saturday, my last game for a month before a nice jaunt off on holiday. Lets sign off with a win boys!

TOMMY'S GONNA GET YE! I ventured down towards todders (having successfully given away our extra tickets to some poor souls) feeling a little wary of this impending cup tie. Especially considering the disaster that was last years semi final in the same competition.

I need not have worried however, for minutes after i'd sat down with my pie and bovril East Fife were reduced to 10 men. A glorious lob from Vidal, Aluko is racing onto it and out bolts the opposition keeper to inexplicably handle outside his area. Red card, game effectively over.

This proved to be the case a few moments later, a great cross from the left (from... you guessed it, man of the match Aluko) and up pops Tommy Dreamer to open his account for the Dons. Glad to see the big man off the mark and lets hope it's the first of many.

It was pretty much one way traffic from this point onwards, the second goal being the pick of the bunch. A 'flowing' passing move side footed home by our resident hairdresser, Vidal Sasson to open his Dons account too.... 'silky smooth'!

Aluko soon added the 3rd with the help of a wicked deflection which effectively killed the game. It didn't kill my appetite though and I added to my pie scoreline with a sly little steak pie to bring the count up to 2. I think the steak actually edged out the chicken for once. Result.

Onto the second half. A lot of huffing and puffing. And to be fair to East Fife, they created a couple of chances to at least give their impressive away support something to cheer about. The Dons hat the post through Severin and Maguire missed a total sitter when clean through.

To be fair to the young lad he rolled his sleeves up and popped up with a late double. One header and a great finish for his second, and the Dons 5th! Hopefully this will give him a bit of confidence to push on and cement a place in the first team. Match report is here.

It was also pleasing to see two other youngsters (Pawlett and Paton) get a run out. Big things will be expected of these two young lads, lets hope they deliver.

Up next, United. At home. We really need to win this one. If we don't, it's an uphill battle for 3rd spot. Lets hope the boys are up for it. We have a score to settle, especially after the last match at Tannadice.

Tynecastle. Hearts. Bruisers. Defeat. That kind of sums up the day. Thankfully I wasn't down to the match as I had a prior engagement that day. I can't really comment much on it either as I turned off the highlights once I saw a Mackie wonder strike (yes, I did just say that)!

What a goal! A long raking 40 yard pass from Mulgrew, drops down over the defenders shoulder and Mackie hits it first time past the keeper into the top corner. Wonderful stuff. Sublime even.

As usual, after the good, we get the inevitable bad (and oh how bad). It had Calderwood unleashing a few of his favourites... 'sloppy defending' being the highlight. A goal lost just before half time, then another not long after the break. Not that we didn't have chances to tie it up, and to be fair to Jimmy, he went for it. 4 up front. A sitter missed by Wright and MaGuire so unlucky to see his effort rebound off the post. Watch it here yourself if you dare!

Worse news was to follow with a spate of injuries picked up over the course of the game. Diamond, Considine, Mackie, Aluko, Smith and Mair all struggling to be fit for tonight's barn stormer against East Fife.

Lets hope we don't blow it. Gulp.

The writing was on the wall for this game. I can't even bring myself to say very much. I can't muster up the enthusiasm let alone the vitriol to recall such a gutless performance.

It's all very well performing against the big boys, but those matches take care of themselves in many respects. It's about rolling your sleeves up and giving 100% against the so called 'lesser' teams. Teams like Inverness (1 defeat), Hamilton (2 defeats), and on Saturday Falkirk (now the first time they've beaten us since 1994).

Simply not good enough. Records are tumbling left, right and centre this season, and not in a good way. A terrible performance, which i'm not even going to describe, i'll leave that to the professionals. Not to mention bizarre tactics and players out of position all over the park.

Added to that a week of no activity in the transfer window, not to mention lousy weather, and it's smiles all round!

Next up a respite in the form of the Scottish (sorry homecoming) cup. Let's hope we can play some good stuff against East Fife, score a few goals and get the confidence levels back up.

Although this is the Dons we are talking about. Anything could, and probably will happen. Watch this space.