Dundee Utd boss promises improvement

By Sean Saranczuk
May 25 2003

Dundee United manager Ian McCall has promised the fans he intends to build them a top team.

McCall addressed the Tannadice faithful following a disappointing performance which ended in a 2-0 defeat by Aberdeen.

He promised the fans: "I guarantee you will have a team to be proud of. We will win and we will win in style. I take my hat off to you."

But McCall faces a busy summer if today's game is anything to go by as the Dons took the points thanks to second half strikes from Darren Mackie and Steve Tosh.

Tosh's strike from outside the box should have been saved by goalkeeper Alan Combe, who is one of a number of players who could be leaving in the summer.

But McCall said: "Obviously it was a bad error but, in the last three games, under huge pressure, I don't think he made one error. So I'm glad he did it today and not in the bigger games."

United finished strongly but overall had been second best and McCall admitted: "We missed three good chances at the end but, if we had got a draw, we would have stolen a point."

Dons manager Steve Paterson said: "We finished it well. I thought we were more or less the best team for the whole 90 minutes.

"It has been a good, positive end to the season for us, not just today but in the last couple of months as well.

"We are playing bottom six teams and I think we have a wee bit to go before we get those kind of results against top six teams but you can only do what you are asked against what is in front of you