DUFC 1 FFC 0

United continued our recent good form with another important win against a well-organised and resilient Falkirk team at Tannadice on Saturday, and it was the unlikely figure of Mark "Durnaldo" Durnan who made the vital contribution, smashing home the winner late on from 8 yards.

To be fair, Durnan had a terrific game throughout and was for me man of the match even outwith his goal. He had a tough time last season but it appears that having experienced and, dare I say, competent players around about him has helped him massively. He was strong, aggressive both in the air and in the tackle and his play for the goal was both bold and brave. I'm delighted for him.

It actually was the one moment in the game where United tried to do something different. For much of the match we played the same way, doing the same thing with the same end result - laboured passing, moving it wide to a full back then a hopeful cross into the box that was gobbled up by the Falkirk centre halves. Houston clearly set his team up to concede space in the wide areas, confident they were able to deal with crosses, and it worked throughout the game, and sadly we played into their hands. We didn't have anyone bold enough to try anything different and we were hampered by poor performances in our attacking areas - VDV, who I like, was extremely poor as a centre forward and didn't attack the ball in the air while he also failed to link up the play. Tope kept coming inside when he should have held the touchline and stretched a tight Falkirk defence. Andreu was never in the game to be fair while Fraser showed moments of quality but for me had a fairly quiet game.

To be fair, the changes did help things, with Murray and Cammy Smith at least trying to carry the ball and playing with directness, but for me the changes could and probably should have happened earlier.

Our strength on Saturday was in defence. I've mentioned Durnan already but big Willie "the Edge" Edjenguele was strong along side him, while Frank now looks up to match speed and appears a strong, dependable right back, although he's limited going forward. Dixon had a poor first period but grew into the match. It's reassuring to have a good and solid first choice defence.

Which of course brings me on to the late cameo from our substitute centre half, Coll Donaldson. I have never seen a player cause so much chaos in his own penalty area. He only played the last 5 minutes, slotting in between Durnan and Willie, but he was horrific for those 5 minutes. He had fresh air swipes at the ball, he missed headers, he clattered into his own players and quite frankly he was a bigger threat to us than Lee Miller had been all afternoon. Thankfully, this time, it didn't cost us. He really, really needs to be kept away from the first team.

All in all though, it was a hugely important win against a rival and sets us up for a trip to Dumfries at the weekend where we meet a surprisingly struggling Queen of the South team. After their blistering start to the campaign they've now gone 5 games without a win and, surprisingly, 5 games without a goal. These runs never go on forever though so we'll need to be sharp to avoid a break in that bad run.

Mon the Terrors