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St Johnstone 2 Dundee United 1: Fitting that Saints provided the finale

Jackie McNamara (right) and St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright.
Jackie McNamara (right) and St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright.

It was cruelly apt that Jackie McNamara’s final game in charge of Dundee United should be against St Johnstone.

Saints have inflicted so much pain upon him and Dundee United that is was entirely fitting they were the ones to cause the lethal wound on Saturday.

It is possible to trace the first serious question to be asked of McNamara as Tangerines’ boss all the way back to December 29, 2013 at McDiarmid Park when he made eight changes to his line-up and the match was lost 3-0.

He launched a staunch defence of his team selection that day and the fixture had come on the back of a 4-1 defeat away to St Mirren.

Nevertheless, McNamara’s controversial choice of personnel seemed to fire up the Perth side and they would come back to hurt him again and again.

The Scottish Cup final of May 17, 2014 was the major meeting of the teams.

Below-par United were outplayed on the day by Saints, much to the dismay of United’s largest-ever support.

St Johnstone just seeemd to have United’s number and so when it came to that number being up it was no surprise that it was they who provided the opposition.

Victory on Saturday had looked there for the taking for the toiling Tangerines after 24 minutes when Saints’ goalkeeper Alan Mannus was red-carded for a challenge on Billy Mckay.

After Mannus traipsed off, Mckay stepped up to make it 1-0 to the visitors with the resultant penalty.

However, instead of United hammering home their advantage, it was the Perth men who came back brilliantly to clinch all three points.

They levelled through a Graham Cummins header after 64 minutes then, with 10 minutes left, sub Simon Lappin lobbed the ball into the net to make it 2-1.

The United board – and the fans – were at the end of their collective tether and the decision after the full-time whistle to let McNamara go.

He was delivered the bad news by a club official in a room within the stadium and his assistant Simon Donnelly was left to do the post-match media interviews.

McNamara’s exit is not Saints problem, however, and they will rightly enjoyed a fabulous win to cap a brilliant few days that also saw them triump at Ibrox in midweek.

Manager Wright, who kept twi in attack – Steven MacLean and Cummins – in attack despite being down to 10 men, hailed the result as one of their best in his time at the club.

He said: “I told the boys in the dressing room that I have been here for four years in November, as assistant manager and manager, and I rate that right up there as one of the best performances they have given me.

“I’m absolutely delighted with it and it was fully deserved.

“I thought it was important to keep two men up front.

“It’s hard work for the three in midfield then but it was important to not let them (United) get a foothold in the game.

“We did that and that gave us an opportunity to even get control of the game, even with 10 men.

“It wasn’t comfortable but I think we deserved to win with the way we performed.

“The players were aware it was going to be a hard shift, in terms of the physical demands on them, but that doesn’t really bother them. They cope with that.

“But we did feel if we got a goal then maybe because of the situation they are in at the minute we could then go on and win it.”

The Saints boss said he could contest the Mannus red card.

He added: “The ball’s going to the left and away from goal slightly, even though it is an open goal, and Dave Mackay is in a reasonably good position.

“I thought it was a penalty and a yellow card. If I see anything on the video then we’ll appeal it.”

Lappin, who scored the goal that sealed McNamara’s fate, said: “It was nice to get the winner in a derby game.

“The most important thing, though, was to get the win.

“With the 10 men we showed a willingness to keep going and to go on and win the game rather than settle for a draw.

“The commitment from the lads was just incredible.

“The effort from everybody again after Tuesday night’s demands was absolutely outstanding.

“We knew it was going to take the same sort of effort as we produced against Rangers and we got that. We fully deserved the three points.

“Graham scored with a great header to get us back into it and we knew we would get chances.

“So it wasn’t a case of settling for a point. We felt we could push on and get the win and, thankfully, we managed to do it.”

It was to the credit of both Donnelly and United skipper Sean Dillon that they came through to face the media, albeit the news of Mcnamara’s departure had yet to be confirmed at that time.

Donnelly was asked about the chants from supporters calling for Mcnamara to go.

He replied: “You can understand the fans are frustrated.

“We’re frustrated, we need to win games, and it’s part and parcel of the game.

“Of course, I’m feeling it for Jackie.

“We’re a team, the four of us (McNamara, Donnelly and coaches Darren jackson and Craig Hinchcliffe) are a team with the boys. We’re a close-knit unit.

“It’s criminal what we’ve done today.

“We’re 1-0 up and they’re down to 10 men.

“We should be going and getting the second and third goal and putting the game to bed.”

Dillon added: “We don’t want to be talking about defeats.

“We want to be winning games, challenging for trophies and being as far up the table as possible.

“Obviously things are magnified and more questions are asked when things aren’t going well.

“Possibly this is the toughest time we have had in my time here.”