Aberdeen 0-1 Dundee United

Sep 21 2008 Gordon Waddell Reports

FRANCISCO SANDAZA conned the ref AND the Aberdeen keeper with one glance as he buried the penalty that kick-started Dundee United's season.

A bizarre handball from Dons striker Tommy Wright 90 seconds after the break gifted the Arabs a chance to claimthree SPL points for the first time since March.

The slick Spaniard grabbed it - but only after a stop-start run-up that included a look at whistler Calum Murray halfway through and had him reaching for his whistle before Jamie Langfield was left clutching thin air.

The win in a game high on tempo but low on quality hoisted United - favourites for third spot at the start of the season - off the bottom of the table.

And despite having to defend for long spells it will be a major surprise if they don't build from here.

Sandaza grinned: "It was so important for us to get the win - I have to thank the whole team for the way they worked.

"For the penalty I did stop to look at the referee but it was only because I couldn't hear the whistle due to the noise."

When the crowd is only 11,000 though you have to doubt that explanation and boss Craig Levein smiled: "I thought he meant it. It's not illegal is it?

"I reckon he did it to send the keeper the wrong way - and it worked!"

You could see the relief cracking through Levein's grin after the game. After the build-up they had at the start of the season he admitted the nerves were shining through with every game that passed without a victory.

And the way they started here, their run didn't look like it was going to end in a hurry.

Dons should have been ahead inside six minutes. Lee Miller's free-kick spat out of the wall straight into the path of Gary McDonald but the midfielder, who grabbed his first for the club last week, blew the chance to double his tally when he blazed wildly over from only five yards out.

Up the other end JonDaly, in for hamstring victim Roy O'Donovan up front, came just as close to latching on to a dream Craig Conway ball to the back post but couldn't beat the angle.

However, moments like that were few and far between for the Arabs. Their ball retention was disastrous and they gifted Aberdeen a constant look at their back four.

The irony of how much his side was missing the foot-on-the-ball abilities of Mark Kerr wouldn't have been lost on Levein.

The only thing sparing United a harder time was the fact Dons' delivery from the wide areas, both from dead balls and run of play, was as bad as United's passing, constantly hitting the first man.

No doubt Aberdeen were the better side and more adventurous but it wasn't until two minutes before the break that they actually forced a save from Lukasz Zaluska.

Lee Wilkie's clearing header from Charlie Mulgrew's long throw was desperately short and the Pole in goal did well to get a sharp hand to Chris Maguire's snapshot. But within a minute of the restart Wright literally handed the game to United on a platter.

Langfield had done well to turn a crisp Sandaza shot round a post but why Wright rose to meet Conway's corner with his hand flapping above his head is anyone's guess.

Ref Murray paused for a second like he couldn't believe it either before pointing to the spot and Sandaza slotted home after his hiccup run-up.

United were a different side, far busier, far more penetrating, and Daly could have made it 2-0 six minutes later when Sandaza picked him out perfectly but his scissorkick flew over. The Arabs had to sit on their lead after that, though, as Jimmy Calderwood threw the kitchen sink at them.

On came Darren Mackie, Jeffrey De Visscher and Derek Young as Dons piled forward.

But this was old school Arabs, grateful at last for a lead to defend and shutting down the game with venom as soon as the ball came in to the final third.

Even when they did get broken down by a Mulgrew corner Zaluska was brave, throwing himself at the feet of Mackie before Scott Robertson bailed him out by shelling the ball off the line.

Maybe if Dons' delivery from the battery of set-pieces they threw at Wilkie and Darren Dods had been more accurate they could have taken something.

But chief culprit Mulgrew confessed: "I'll be working on it - I have to make sure every delivery causes trouble, not just the odd one.

"But we dominated the game and just couldn't put the ball away with the chances we had."

REF WATCH

CALUM MURRAY needed the whistle in his chops constantly. Only dished out four bookings but it felt like death by a thousand fouls in a game that never flowed. Rating: 6/10.

MATCH STATS

4 Shots On 2

8 Shots Off 4

3 Offside 0

9 Fouls 19

10 Corners 3

1 Bookings 3