DFC 0 DUFC 2

You never get tired of winning derbies. It wasn't quite the 6-2 thumping of earlier in the season but this was as comfortable a derby victory as you'll ever see in this fixture.

In fact I'd suggest that Dundee actually played better in the 6-2 than they did on Friday night. They were absolutely rotten. I was worried in the build up to the game that we'd see a reaction from them, that they'd be fired up to right the wrongs of earlier in the season and get some revenge for what happened at Tannadice.

I needn't have worried.

The first half was fairly uneventful and not much happened. A few meaty tackles, a wee scuffle and not much quality. In fact I thought the only player who showed any kind of quality was Dorrans (who has been slaughtered in the aftermath of the game, which I was surprised at). United huffed and puffed but didn't get much time on the ball, although I thought when we did get the ball we looked a bit more threatening and showed a bit more slickness in our passing, but the final ball let us down.

In the second half we took control and strangled the life out of Dundee. After a penalty shout was turned down, United again broke into the box through Smith and Declan McDaid continued his fine run of giving away penalties in the derby by clattering into the United full back as he put in a (very poor) cross. The referee pointed to the spot and Nicky Clark converted.

McPake then showed his naivety imo, taking off their captain McGowan and putting on a striker. They lost the midfield at that point, of which they generally had control due to the extra man.

Not long later United doubled the lead, Shankland robbing the Dundee number 9 and slid passed another defender and slotted him left footed from 16 yards out. Game over.

At that point Dundee surrendered and if United had scored another - and it was a fine save from Hazard that denied McMullan - you had a feeling United could have went on and scored as many as they wanted. As it was two was enough.

The best performances for United were in defence I thought. MOTM for me was between two players. I thought Smith at full back was fantastic. But for me MOTM was Paul Watson, who I thought was going to get dropped for Connolly pre-match. He's been utilised as a substitute right back for most of his time at Tannadice but he was in last week against Inverness and retained his place on Friday and I thought he was imperious at the back for us. Everything seemed very easy for him. He won every header, every tackle and used the ball well too. Magnificent.

Elsewhere we struggled to get some of our attacking players into the game but I thought Shankland had a good game beyond his goal. Some of his touches were excellent and he laid the ball off superbly at times. Ultimately though the boys kept working and won their battles. I though Nicky Clark played well too and was probably our best attacking player first half.

As for the Dees, Barry will probably be able to tell us more about his views on how they played, but I thought they were very poor throughout. Hemmings was never in the game while the two full backs were horrendous. I just can't believe how little fight they showed in the game.

We're in a great wee run of form though in this second quarter of league games. Four games played, four wins, four clean sheets.

Before the season started I would have picked Dundee and Inverness as our biggest threats. We've now played both home and away and won them all, with an aggregate score of 8-2 and 7-1. That's impressive.

Still a long way to go but a six point lead at this stage is a solid lead.

Mon the Terrors