As 3,200 drenched Arabs in the North Stand of Stark’s Park serenaded Louis Moult to the tune of “Gold” by Spandau Ballet, the Dundee United striker had one thought.
“I was warming up in front of that stand when they were all singing,” he smiled. “And I did think to myself: it’d be really nice to score in front of them today!”
Ask and you shall receive.
Moult took just nine minutes to make his mark on the top-of-the-table Championship clash, nodding home his sixth goal of the campaign following an intelligently worked corner-kick from Declan Glass.
Back on the pitch, back on the scoresheet for #DUFC 🙌@LouisMoult | #RAIUTD | #cinchChamp pic.twitter.com/f3X0Sxeftq
— Dundee United FC (@dundeeunitedfc) October 8, 2023
It was a sensational impact on his comeback from a minor groin strain sustained against Inverness a fortnight prior.
By Jim Goodwin’s own admission, the former Motherwell man may have been just 70% fit. Yet he played 40 minutes, scored an instinctive goal to cancel out Lewis Vaughan’s opener and brought others into the game.
“I only trained on Friday,” explained Moult. “We’ve been very sensible with it. The injury is a little niggle on the groin but the club has managed it well.
“I’m eager to play and score goals. But as you get that bit older, you do become more sensible. As a younger player, I would probably have played all the way through it. I probably wouldn’t have come off at Inverness (below).
“But you understand your own body as you get more experienced — and you stop taking chances.
“It (the outing at Raith) was probably for longer than I expected; I’ll be honest about that. But we were 1-0 down and in search of a goal and thankfully I was able to come on and get that goal.”
Competition for places
Moult’s circumspect attitude to spending a sensible period on the sidelines should not be mistaken for a lack of frustration.
He laughed: “No, I’m not calm about that, at all — I’m desperate to play!
“If anyone would have looked at me in the stands the previous weekend when we went 1-0 down against Queen’s Park in the first minute, I was all over the place.”
In that particular showdown, United roared back to win 4-1, inspired by a brace by Tony Watt, excelling in the centre-forward position.
And he reckons that is an illustration of the fierce battle for places at Tannadice.
“You need that level of competition if you are going to be towards the top of the table,” continued Moult.
“That is how you get better as an individual and how the team improves. It’s fantastic that we can all chip in.
“That’s not just at the top of the park. I look at Ross Graham coming on at centre-back and doing really well — that fight for places is throughout our squad, which is brilliant for the football club.”
He added: “The boys who aren’t playing at the moment will be frustrated. Rightly so. If you aren’t frustrated, then you shouldn’t be a footballer. Having that depth and competition definitely drives the boys in the team to keep the momentum going.”
Unbeaten run continues
And Moult has no doubt that impetus will be required to shake off the challenge of Rovers, who he firmly believes will be “right up there” in the fight for the Championship title.
As such, he sees a point as a satisfactory outcome in Kirkcaldy.
“Saturday was big show of character from us, as a squad and a football club,” he added. “Raith Rovers are a tough team to play against, at a tough venue.
“I think they’ll be right up there.
“So, on the back of going 1-0 down, I think that’s a good result. Of course we want to win every game, but it keeps the unbeaten run going.”
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