Tannadice on Tuesday night hosted one of those rare games in football when the result didn’t matter.
Arabs turned out in numbers, not just in hope of seeing their team win against Premiership Hearts, but to honour club stalwart Sean Dillon in his testimonial game.
And rightly so, because the Irishman has been a great servant to the Tangerines over the past 10 years and deserved the decent crowd of over 3,000 he got.
By playing on for the full 90 minutes at St Mirren last midweek when he’d clearly suffered a serious ankle injury during the proceedings, Dillon was unable to manage any more than take the kick-off and then immediately be substituted.
That was unfortunate for him but it did not detract from his big night. If he was unable to run around the park, there were plenty others who did.
As well as members of the two teams’ present squads, there was a long list of old boys who turned out to honour him.
Christian Kalvenes, his first full-back partner when he signed up at United from Shelbourne a decade ago, travelled from his home in Norway to take part, while Noel Hunt and Scottish Cup Final hero Craig Conway drove up from England to play.
Hunt and Kalvenes both started the game and, at 40, the Norwegian looked liked he could still do a turn at a decent level.
Fellow players from the great day at Hampden 2010 like Garry Kenneth, Andy Webster and Jon Daly, also dusted off their boots to play, as did Lee Wilkie, whose career-ending knee injury had ruled him out of the final.
There were even appearances in the dug-outs by the two managers who surely had the biggest influence over the defender’s Tannadice career.
Craig Levein, the man who signed him, took charge of Hearts for the second period and cup-winner Peter Houston was in the home dug out.
And for the fans, the sight of them back on duty at Tannadice was at least as enjoyable as that of their current heroes going through their paces.
As was to be expected, the game itself started at a leisurely place and with some ageing legs being introduced as the minutes ticked by, it didn’t get any quicker.
Not that anyone in the crowd minded, so keen were they to honour Dillon and catch a sight of those former stars.
Hearts were having the better of the first half until home kid Logan Chalmers went agonisingly close twice in the space of a couple of seconds.
First the 16-year-old hit the bar with a fierce shot and when the rebound was played back into the middle his header was brilliantly palmed away by Viktor Noring in the Hearts goal.
Dillon’s perfect kick-off apart, that was the highlight of the first 45 minutes and the second half was all about nostalgia as the old boys took over.
Within two minutes, former skipper Barry Robson broke the deadlock with a bizarre, if spectacular, own goal that saw him shoot first time into the home net from all of 35 yards.
In the 55th minute it was two and in more conventional fashion as Rory Curry rounded Paul Gallagher in the United goal.
Hunt pulled one back on the hour mark and, right at the death, Dillon’s son Shea, just six, came on and netted to make sure it was honours even on the night.
That was a nice touch but ultimately the score did not matter.
What did was the fans got the chance to say thank you to a man who has given their team excellent service and, if he has his way, will continue that for a while to come.
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