You almost felt sorry for Dundee United rising star Logan Chalmers.
A promising young talent heading home his first league goal – albeit, courtesy of his nose – for the senior side in a 6-0 home win deserves to be the centre of attention.
It was the perfect follow-up to his signing a three-year contract extension earlier this month.
However, Chalmers had scorer extraordinaire Lawrence Shankland hogging the limelight and he also had to put up with some banter from United’s other goal hero, Paul McMullan.
By the time the 19-year-old midfielder hung in the air to make it half-a-dozen on 84 minutes, Shankland had already bagged a hat-trick and McMullan a double.
Mind you, a smiling Chalmers wasn’t in the least bit bothered at having to share the glory.
He also didn’t care which part of his body got the final touch on the ball as he added to his two other goals in the Challenge Cup in previous seasons.
Chalmers, a local lad who has come through the club’s academy, said: “It hit my nose but they all count.
“I was just waiting on the ball coming in and finished it off.
“It was my nose that I scored with this time but any contact is fine by me as long as it goes into the net.
“I have scored a few goals for the reserves and that but it’s my first (league) goal for the first team.
“It feels really good – I’m buzzing.
“Shanks can’t stop scoring so it was good for me to be able to chip in.
“You look up to him and see how he finishes things. It seems to be every game that he gets a goal or even a hat-trick or four.
“He is a great addition to the team.
“For example, in training, if you are not doing something right he will tell you so you learn from him.
“He is more than a goalscorer and is always happy to help out the boys.
“It is good to get a goal myself but, to be honest, we are all happy about the team performance more than anything.”
Chalmers revealed that McMullan gave him a bit of good-natured stick after the game for his finish.
He said with a smile: “Yes, wee Paul said he saw that the ball hit my nose. He mentioned that my facial expression was something else.
“I don’t care because I’m absolutely delighted.”
While Shankland has been busy breaking club scoring records, Chalmers hasn’t been setting himself targets other than to get more game time.
He added: “I have to take the opportunities when they come along, whether that is starting a game or coming off the bench.
“You have to ready for anything.
“I haven’t set myself a target for the season other than to try and be involved as much as I can.
“Everyone wants to be out there on the park and I have to keep doing well to get that chance.
“I must keep working hard and making a mark when I can.
“There is a good feeling about the club just now because we have started the season well.
“However, we don’t want to get too carried away.
“It is game by game for us and that’s certainly the case for me.”
Chalmers made his manager happy after coming off the bench to replace Peter Pawlett with just under 20 minutes left.
United boss Robbie Neilson said: “I am delighted for him.
“The ethos of the club is to bring through young, local players and he is that. He has come through the club and done well in the reserves.
“We did think about putting him out on loan but decided to keep him with us in order to give him 15-minute spells here and there or even a start or two now and again.
“It is about development for him this season and if he can get games while doing that then great because he has real quality.”
Shankland, meanwhile, simply picked up where he had left off the previous weekend to ensure United stayed at the top of the Championship on goal difference from Ayr United.
He was the hero seven days earlier when two late counters clinched a comeback win against Arbroath.
Fast forward a week and he was at it again against the Greenock men, finding the net within a minute before putting the Tangerines 2-0 up with just five on the clock.
That meant he scored four times in roughly 10 minutes spread across two different fixtures.
He found the net in the second half, too, to claim a hat-trick with his 13th league goal and 15th in all competitions.
Before that third Shankland strike, McMullan had made it 3-0 to the hosts three minutes before half-time.
United then had what would have been a wonderful overhead kick goal from Pawlett chalked off for offside on 54 minutes.
Shankland couldn’t stay out of the spotlight for long, though, and grabbed his hat-trick two minutes later when he tied Morton’s Stephen Welsh in knots inside the box before squeezing his shot in at an angle to make it 4-0.
All that was left for Shankland to do was leave the stage to great applause when he was replaced by sub Louis Appere.
McMullan grabbed his second and United’s fifth on 80 minutes when he sent a precise, angled drive into the net from the right side of the box.
As if that wasn’t enough, sub Chalmers nosed home United’s sixth with six minutes left.
Tannadice boss Neilson said: “I think if you get a goal early it makes all the difference, really.
“Probably the two starts in this game and the Arbroath one were similar but last weekend we hit the post then went flat while this time we got a goal early and that meant the opposition had to open up.
“That meant we got the chance to play.
“To be honest, he (Shankland) will get the plaudits again because he got his goals but the pleasing thing for me was that we got another two from McMullan and one from Chalmers.
“Also, I think to a man there wasn’t any one who was under par.
“They were all either par or above it so that’s great.
“We got three more points but now we have to go to Alloa on a Friday night, which will be a different ball game.”
