To lose once to Dumbarton may be regarded as a misfortune but to do so twice looks like carelessness.
It was déjà vu all over again for Dundee United, as someone perhaps once said.
The Tangerines suffered an unhappy Hogmanay as their hopes of finishing the year as Championship leaders crashed against the Rock by the Clyde once again.
For the second time this season, United lost 1-0 to the Sons at the Cheaper Insurance Direct Stadium – a terrible result on a miserable day.
The man who scored the winner from the penalty spot for the hosts back in August, Mark Docherty, did the damage once again when he gave them the lead with a fluke of a cross on 27 minutes.
They all count, however, and the upshot is that instead of heading to Easter Road on Friday at the top of the pile, United now trail Hibs by a point following the Edinburgh side’s victory at Falkirk.
The result also brought to an end the Tannadice team’s 14-match unbeaten run that started all the way back in September.
Midfielder Willo Flood wasn’t looking for excuses, even though the conditions were monsoon-like.
What he was keen to do, however, was put the result into context considering what had preceded it.
Flood said: “We need to look at the bigger picture because that’s the first game we have lost in three months.
“If you said to me now that we will go another three months without losing then I would snap your hand off and take that.
“We are where we are on merit in the league.
“To be fair, in the second half we put Dumbarton under a lot of pressure and created more chances than we did last time.
“We just didn’t take them.
“Being honest, we didn’t play well enough and there are no excuses.
“The conditions were horrendous but sometimes you need to have a bit more about you and get the ball down and play.”
United were struggling in the wet and windy conditions and they fell behind on 27 minutes.
Once again it was Docherty who was their nemesis, floating a cross over from the left that was aimed at striker Garry Fleming.
However, the number nine missed it and so did Tannadice keeper Cammy Bell and the ball bounced into the net.
Tannadice boss Ray McKinnon said: “Again, we lost a strange, freakish goal as everyone missed it due to the wind and it found its way into the net.
“So that was frustrating.
“That was horrific weather to play football in and to ask the players to be extremely technical out there was difficult.
“Even though it was horrible weather, we are not making any excuses.
“We take that one on the chin and move on.
“I think four or five of the players were below par, definitely.
“There was a wee lack of quality.
“It wasn’t until I put Mark Durnan up that we had a goal threat so it’s disappointing when your centre-half becomes your biggest goal threat.
“I have reminded the players that they need to lift their standards again for Friday.
“We have been on a great run, going three months unbeaten, but they know they have to do better than that.”
United had made two changes to the starting line-up that faced St Mirren on Christmas Eve.
The shock news was that there was no Tony Andreu in the team because of injury, while Charlie Telfer dropped down to the bench.
Into the side came Nick van der Velden and Stewart Murdoch, with the latter coming in for his first start since the loss to Morton at Cappielow on September 20.
That Betfred Cup tie in Greenock was, of course, the last time the Tangerines had tasted defeat in any competition.
On four minutes they had a half-chance when Sean Dillon headed into the box to Blair Spittal, who would have been in on goal had his first touch been better.
On 10 minutes, the Sons raced upfield and weren’t far away when Sam Stanton let fly from 30 yards.
After Docherty’s freakish goal, Murdoch fired in a shot for the visitors on the half-hour mark.
It was Dumbarton who had the next decent opportunity, though, with Joe Thomson volleying over on 39 minutes.
Sixty seconds later, only a spectacular save from home keeper Alan Martin kept out Flood’s rocket shot from the edge of the box.
That was better from United and they actually had the ball in the net on 42 minutes when Simon Murray stabbed home a Paul Dixon cutback but the ball had gone over the line before the full-back reached it.
The visitors pushed Van der Velden further up for the second half but things didn’t get much better as their attacks continued to fizzle out.
On 56 minutes, United came their closest yet to scoring when a Scott Fraser corner was flicked up by Mark Durnan’s boot and clipped the top of the Sons’ bar.
The Tangerines then made a double switch, with Murray and Spittal making way for Cammy Smith and Tope Obadeyi.
With 72 minutes on the clock, sub Smith saw his shot deflected on to the top of the Dumbarton goal and United wasted the resultant corner.
A Fraser freekick from 25 yards flew over as the visitors tried to get level then Durnan headed a Dixon cross wide.
In a last throw of the dice, United pushed defender Durnan up front for the closing stages after bringing on Coll Donaldson for Fraser.
There was an almighty goalmouth scramble four minutes from time but United still couldn’t convert and William Edjenguele blasted over when the ball eventually came loose.
In the dying seconds, Obadeyi’s corner was headed on to the post by Durnan but it was to be one of those days for United.
