Dundee United remain winless in the Premiership after a dire 3-0 defeat against St Mirren.
Curtis Main notched a clinical brace for the Buddies, striking either side of the half-time interval, before Alex Grieve added gloss to the scoreline in injury time.
Although Glenn Middleton and Ilmari Niskanen both threatened, the Tangerines never looked like mounting a comeback as they slipped to a fourth successive defeat in all competitions — and an aggregate scoreline of 15-1.
Indeed, Jonah Ayunga, the best player on the pitch, should have ensured the Paisley outfit claimed a more handsome triumph.
The dying embers even brought a chant of ‘sacked in the morning’ from the St Mirren fans who formerly idolised ex-boss Jack Ross.
Key moments
United can’t say they weren’t warned.
St Mirren almost claimed the lead within a minute, with Ayunga heading wide from eight yards. A ferocious Keanu Baccus volley was bravely blocked by Ryan Edwards and debutant Carljohan Eriksson parried a low Mark O’Hara drive to safety.
By the time Main clinically slotted beyond Eriksson, benefitting from a kind ricochet off Dylan Levitt, the Buddies merited their lead.
St Mirren doubled their advantage after the break as United’s familiar failings emerged once more. Levitt and Glenn Middleton surrendered possession in the visitors’ half and, within seconds, Ayunga was teeing up Main to slam home his second.
With the game over, it is hard to consider Grieve’s late strike a ‘key moment’, but it was most certainly salt in the wound — with the young forward beating the on-rushing, errant Eriksson to the ball and sliding into an empty net from 40 yards.
United’s star man: Charlie Mulgrew
It is incredibly slim pickings for anyone in a Tangerine jersey following another miserable day at the office.
Mulgrew was left brutally exposed by the lack of tenacity and cover in front of him, but attempted to defend stoically where possible.
No United player made more entries into the final third (23), made more tackles (four), had more clearances (eight) or won more duels (nine).
If anyone merits pass marks, it’d be the 36-year-old attempting, albeit ultimately failing, to stem the tide.
Player ratings
Eriksson 5; Smith 4, Edwards 6, Mulgrew 6, Behich 4 (Niskanen 60, 4); Levitt 5, McGrath 4 (Cudjoe 45, 4), Harkes 5; Middleton 4, Fletcher 5, Watt 4 (Clark 60, 3).
Manager under the microscope
Ross made a huge call.
Following two ropey outings between the sticks against AZ Alkmaar and Hearts — shipping 11 goals along the way — Mark Birighitti was dropped in favour of Finland international Eriksson.
Signed from Swedish side Mjallby during the last winter transfer window, Eriksson was making his competitive United debut after an EIGHT-month wait.
Ross then replaced Jamie McGrath with Matthew Cudjoe during the half-time interval; wasting no time in seeking to change the course of another game drifting away from United.
He also switched to a 3-5-2, allowing Tony Watt to partner Fletcher.
But despite tinkering and tweaking, Ross still cannot get a tune out of this side and, with Celtic up next, the task gets tougher and the scrutiny ratchets up.
Man in the middle: Matthew MacDermid
MacDermid, 29, was overseeing just his second ever Premiership fixture following a swift rise through the Scottish FA ranks.
He dished out deserved bookings to Aziz Behich, Keanu Baccus, Mathew Cudjoe and Levitt but enjoyed an otherwise serene afternoon, shorn of flash-points.
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