Dundee United

After seeing that the SPL does not get a lot of coverage here on B/R, I decided to write up a match report on the SPL game that I saw earlier today on Setanta Sports 1, in order to give the SPL more coverage on Bleacher Report.

The match was at Pittodrie, where hosts Aberdeen took on Dundee United.

Action

It was the visitors, Dundee United, that won the game. A coolly slotted penalty from Spanish striker Francisco Sandaza gave Craig Levein's men a 1-0 victory, in a scrappy encounter at Pittodrie.

Perhaps this game isn't the most ideal game to publicise the SPL, as it wasn't a lively one and the first half in particular lacked any real quality.

However, it was only minutes into the second half that the deadlock was broken. Referee Calum Murray pointed to the spot after Craig Conway's corner was met by the hand of Aberdeen's Tommy Wright.

The Spaniard Sandaza stepped up and sent Dons' keeper Jamie Langfield the wrong way to make it 1-0.

Dundee United then continued to be much the better side throughout the second half, and the impressive Sandaza almost carved out a chance for Jon Daly, but the Irish forward saw his acrobatic attempt fly just wide.

Aberdeen raised their game in the final 15 minutes however, but it was not enough as Dundee held on for the win.

Reaction

Dundee United manager Craig Levein was delighted as his side kept their first clean sheet of the season and their first three points. He told Setanta Sports: "I'm thrilled, obviously. I think the result was everything for us today."

"The way the players dug in when we got in front was pleasing to see. We need that sort of determination again in future games.

"I said at the start of the week there was a possibility we’d come here and lose at Pittodrie as it’s always difficult here. Thankfully, we got a win. It was arguable whether either team deserved to win, in all honesty, but we got the break which we haven’t been getting up to now, and I’m grateful, relieved, and the players are delighted with themselves."

Levein also praised United's fancy striker Sandaza, who impressed many with his great forward runs and composure from the penalty spot.

"I thought he did okay again today," said the Dundee manager. "He did some good things, some other things not quite so good, but the longer he plays, the more often he plays, the better he will get.

"As you can see today, he's a threat.

"I thought we were nervous today and didn’t pass the ball as well as we have been doing so it’s pleasing to get a win.

"We did some work during the week on defending, making sure we were tight and solid and, thankfully, we did a lot of work on defending set-pieces. It seemed like they got one set-piece after another so all credit to the lads as they showed great determination.

"We now have a game on Tuesday against Airdrie, who have started the season remarkably well, so we’ll worry about that and see what happens after that."

Barcelona have made back up keeper Jose Manuel Pinto’s loan move permanent. The Catalans have paid Celta Vigo half a million Euros or three hundred and ninety five thousand pounds for their new third choice shot stopper. (Marca)

Palermo have signed Fiorentina’s former Lazio midfielder Fabio Liverani on a three year deal, the Sicilian club have confirmed. (Sky Sports News)

Fenerbahce are in talks with Newcastle’s Turkish International Emre about returning to Istanbul for four million. Emre started his career with Fenerbahce’s arch rivals Galatastaray.

Rennes, Lens and Portsmouth are all interested in signing Liverpool back up keeper Charles Itandje. (The Sun)

Jose Mourinho is almost certain to take over at Inter Milan after Roberto Mancini’s sacking by the Italian club. Ironically the former Leicester and Italy International is now favourite to take over at the “Special Ones’” old club Chelsea. (The Guardian)

Fiorentina Viola have signed AC Milan’s Italy international striker Alberto Gilardino. (The Guardian)

Lyon will sign Nice goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to replace the departing Gregory Coupet, who is expected to leave the Stade Gerrland this summer. (L’Equipe)

Ernesto Valverde, who resigned from Espanyol a few days ago, has been appointed Olympiakos manager on a three year contract worth four million Euros. (The Guardian)

Sam Morrowhas become the first managerial casualty of the MLS season after the FC Dallas manager was sacked last night after the club’s after the Texan clubs disappointing start to the season. (ESPN)

Former Argentina Manager Jose Pekermanhas resigned from his position as manager of Mexican outfit Toluca for family reasons. (ESPN)

Chelsea could appoint AC Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti as their new head coach, and then exploit his relationship with star playerKaka with a fifty million pound bid for the Brazilian superstar. (Daily Star)

Barcelona claim that Arsenal’s Belarus Captain Alexander Hleb has agreed to join them for next season, Yaya Touregoing the other way as part of the deal. The Catalans are also reportively interested in Tottenham’s Dimitar Berbartov and Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor. Although no deal for either of the front men can be made until Samuel Eto’o leaves. (Daily Star)

Reading’s Ivory Coast midfielder Emerse Fae is close to a return to France with Nice close to acquiring the player on loan with a view to a permanent two point four million pound move. The player was previously fined two weeks wages for refusing to play for the club’s reserves back in April (The Times)

Crystal Palace are facing a real war to keep hold of some of their star players. Teenage superstar John Bostock is on the verge of signing for Tottenham and fellow midfielder Ben Watson is being chased by Derby, Nottingham Forrest, Bolton, and Middlesbrough. QPR have already had a one and a quarter million pound bid turned from the eagles. (The Times)

Rangers are interested in Le Mans left back Jean Calve, and Monaco left back Jeremy Berthod. (Various)

Portsmouth are interested in Trinidad and Tobago international eighteen year old midfielder Khaleem Hyland, who will play against England on Sunday. (The Times)

Sunderland are planning a swoop for Aston Villa’s Scotland midfielder Shaun Maloney with a four million pound bid (Daily Mirror)

Tottenham will bid for twelve million pound rated Paraguay striker Oscar Cardozofrom Benfica. (Daily Mirror)

Derby, Reading and Coventry are all in the race to sign Swansea’s Dutch midfielder Ferrie Bodde this summer. (Derby Evening Standard)

Plymouth Argyle and Aberdeen will fight it out for Leicester’s former Republic of Ireland full back Alan Maybury. (Daily Record)

Cardiff City want to sign Manchester City’s young Welsh midfielder Ched Evans on loan this season. (South Wales Echo)

West Brom are considering making a move for Dundee’s highly rated midfielder Kevin McDonald. (Daily Record)

Swedish champions Djurgardens and Dundee United are bidding to take Ranger’s winger Alan Gowon loan for next season. The Tannadice club are also interested in taking Charlie Adamfrom Ibrox in a similar deal. (Various)

Celtic will rival Sunderland for the signing of Manchester city’s Republic of Ireland midfielder Stephen Ireland with a five million pound bid. (Daily Mirror)

Last week’s Old Firm Derby victory for Rangers sent the blue half of Glasgow six points clear of Celtic, at the top of the Scottish Premier League.

Both sides had gone into the game with impressive recent records, Rangers with 12 league wins on the trot and Celtic undefeated in 12. Rangers' 1-0 win pushed that record out to 13 straight wins.

In fact Rangers have lost only one of their last 25 games, and that was 1-0 away to Werder Bremen in the UEFA Cup. That defeat was still enough for Rangers to advance to the quarter finals and by no means dented the Rangers spirit. 

The Gers midweek draw in the first leg of the UEFA Cup quarter final did however start to show the greatest threat to Rangers season, fatigue!

The light blues were running on empty come the final minutes and were more than happy to settle for 0-0 against Sporting Lisbon. 

Rangers still have a potential 17 games over the next six weeks. If they progress to the finals of the UEFA and Scottish Cup’s in their aim for an unprecedented quadruple.  

Boss Walter Smith will have to take a leaf out of Sir Alex Ferguson or Rafa Benitez’ book and apply a bit of squad rotation to see Rangers at least complete the illustrious Scottish treble.

The Ibrox men already have the CIS Insurance Cup in the trophy room thanks to the Kris Boyd show last month.

So to this weekend, where Celtic were desperate to keep the pressure on Rangers ahead of the first of two Old Firm ties at Celtic Park next Wednesday. 

Motherwell travelled to Parkhead on Saturday to meet Celtic in the crucial encounter. Sadly for Celtic in what must be one of the worst results of the season they were humbled 1-0 by Motherwell. 

Simon Lappin’s first half goal was enough to see off the Bhoys despite Motherwell playing virtually the whole second half with ten men!

Former Ranger Bob Malcolm was sent off which must have at least brought some amusement to the home crowd. 

Motherwell are arguably the best footballing side in the league and are a real pleasure to watch. That win moves Motherwell up into a deserved third place and a UEFA Cup spot is once again theirs to lose.

The result has left Celtic a potential 12 points off the pace with Rangers having two games in hand. Gordon Strachan must now hope for some serious favours from other SPL sides, starting with Dundee United, as they welcomed Rangers to Tannadice on Sunday. 

Rangers made a few changes from Thursday night with Kris Boyd, Nacho Novo, Christian Dailly and Steven Whittaker being drafted into the side. 

Dundee United opened the scoring with Christian Kalvenes bundling home a goal mouth scramble in the 37th minute. Their lead lasted a matter of minutes as Rangers veteran David Weir headed home the equalizer just before half time. 

The Tangerines went in front again on 51 minutes thanks to a Sean Dillon goal. In an amazing repeat of the League Cup Final, Rangers drew level again with Nacho Novo scoring for the Gers seven minutes later. 

Carlos Cueller completed a dodgy afternoon for the Rangers defence by gifting United the lead once again, but the own goal was almost instantly cancelled out by Rangers goal scoring wonder Kris Boyd.

Dundee United were easily the better side over the 90 minutes but Rangers showed great resilience in fighting back three times to gain what could be a crucial point.

Rangers are now seven points clear of the green half of Glasgow. 

The game was a brilliant advertisement for Scottish football. A classic match! 

In other results, Inverness Caledonian Thistle have ended their seven game losing streak by beating troubled Gretna 2-1 away from home. 

Edinburgh outfit Hibernian (fourth in the league) beat lowly St Mirren 2-0 while their local rival’s Hearts drew 0-0 with Kilmarnock at Rugby Park. 

Aberdeen face Falkirk in a Monday night fixture at Pittodrie with Falkirk aiming to secure their top half finish ahead of the Dons.

That brings us to the end of my SPL update. I’m hoping to spark some interest in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League here on Bleacher Report. 

Can Celtic stop the Rangers express train?

Kris Boyd is Rangers hero tonight after the super sub saved the mighty Gers from a shock cup defeat at the hands of Dundee United at Hampden Park.

Rangers were playing in their first League Cup Final since they beat Motherwell 5-1 in the 04/05 final. The Glasgow giants have had a two difficult trophyless years and the Ibrox faithful were eagerly anticipating lifting the CIS Insurance trophy today.

They last met opponents Dundee United in a League Cup Final back in the 84/85 final. A match Rangers won 1-0 in a game was also played at Hampden Park.

Dundee United had been absent from the League Cup Final since their 3-0 drubbing at the hands of Celtic, in the 97/98 final at Ibrox.

Rangers came into this one on a high following their aggregate win over Werder Bremen in the last 16 of the UEFA Cup. United also came into the final with confidence after showing good league form before holding Celtic to a 0-0 draw on Wednesday night.

To the surprise of many, it was Dundee United and not Rangers who opened the scoring in the 34th minute. The Terriors top scorer Noel Hunt was the man on target.

Rangers struggled hard to get back into the game but seemed to be firing blanks as the clock ticked away. Anticipation grew however as Kris Boyd stripped for action and was sent on to rescue the Light Blues.

Comparisons to the 94 Scottish Cup Final, where a single Craig Brewster goal won the cup for Dundee United over a stunned Rangers, were already on the lips of fans and journalists throughout the ground.

It wasn't to be the case though as Kris Boyd equalized with just minutes to play. It was fitting the big striker scored such an important and timely goal as he has been overlooked for many big games this season, but showed his true value today, scoring when it mattered most.

The game went into extra time with Rangers on the front foot after their late equalizer. It counted for nothing as Dundee United's Mark De Vries sent their supporters into raptures with what could well have been the winning goal.

Could the battle weary Rangers come back yet again?

With 8 minutes to go in extra time Rangers levelled the tie through who else but that man Kris Boyd. What an hour the striker was having, again hauling his beloved Rangers back into cup contention.

With honours even the game ticked towards the lottery of penalty kicks. Neither team could snatch a winner, so it was left to shots from 12 yards to decide the 07/08 CIS Insurance Cup winners.

Rangers were the first to miss, Jean-laude Darcheville hitting the crossbar with Rangers first effort.

Maybe it was to be Dundee United's day after all!

Dundee United though proceeded to succumb to the huge pressure with misses from David Robertson, Craig Conway and Lee Wilkie. On form Rangers keeper Alan McGregor (Rangers midweek hero in the UEFA Cup) made 2 penalty saves either side of a miss from Lee McCulloch.

This left Kris Boyd with a chance to win the Cup for Rangers. Boyd then stepped up and completed what must be his finest hour. 

Take nothing away from a spirited Dundee United performance. This game could easily have gone either way. United played their part in a thrilling encounter but you can't have two winners.

Rangers are the 07/08 CIS Insurance Cup champions!