Dundee Utd 0 - Well 2

By Sean Saranczuk
October 13 2003

Two goals from Derek Adams gave Terry Butcher his first win over Dundee United as a manager and killed off the home side's hopes of going five league matches unbeaten.

Adams stepped up to convert a spot-kick after he was fouled inside the penalty area by home goalkeeper Tony Bullock to hand his manager and assistant - United legend Maurice Malpas, sacked by the Tannadice club a year ago - a sweet 2-0 victory.

The former Ross County man then made sure of the points with seconds remaining when he took advantage of a slip-up by Bullock to lob the ball into the empty net.

The home side endured a particularly disappointing afternoon and it was summed up by Jim McIntyre's penalty miss just before half-time as he fired the ball weakly into Gordon Marshall's hands.

Ian McCall had hoped Craig Easton would go out to prove that he should have been involved all along and it did look promising at first with the midfielder playing well as United dominated the opening exchanges.

However, as so often has been the case at home, the Terrors contrived to hand their visitors a goal start following a bad error of judgement by Bullock. Adams sprinted onto a through-ball from Scott Leitch and, despite running away from goal, Bullock sprinted off his line and tried to palm the ball away - but instead brushed the legs of the attacker.

The Well forward went to ground and left referee Hugh Dallas - who had a perfect view of the incident - no option but to award a penalty kick. Adams took it himself, sending Bullock the wrong way with a low drive.

United did have the chance to go in at the interval on level terms, however, when McIntyre was awarded a penalty after being fouled by former United man David Partridge inside the box. McIntyre stepped up to take the kick but could not follow Adams' example as his weak shot was snapped up by Marshall - who guessed correctly and dived to his right.

The home support were unhappy with their side as they trudged off for the interval and started to chant the name of former Scotland striker Billy Dodds as the game resumed for the second half.

McCall waited 10 minutes before giving them what they wanted, substituting Easton to make way for the Tannadice fans' favourite.

The fans were on their feet again to greet another hero when Owen Coyle replaced Jason Scotland in the 65th minute to make his second debut for the club.

In the 80th minute when Dodds cleverly held off a defender inside the area and allowed the ball to slip through to his team-mate. Coyle had plenty of time to pick his spot and score the equaliser, but snatched at it and sent the ball blazing over the crossbar from only eight yards.

Motherwell finished the game strongly and made sure of the points with seconds remaining when Adams pounced after Bullock raced off his line and lost the ball to David Clarkson on the left-hand side of his penalty area.