Dundee United 0, Partick Thistle 2
(O’Donnell 35, Fojut og 41)
TV audiences were being spooked by the X-Files, Wake Up Boo by the Boo Radleys was at number one in the pop charts and John Major was Prime Minister.
Current Dundee United players Charlie Telfer and Blair Spittal, who both lined up at Tannadice on Saturday, had yet to be born.
Yes, it was that long ago – March 7, 1995 to be precise when the Tangerines previously lost to Partick Thistle before crashing to this 2-0 defeat.
To be honest, even Mulder and Scully would have struggled to explain why United were so poor.
Standing on the cusp of a Scottish Cup quarter-final and League Cup final, the players should have been desperate to show manager Jackie McNamara they were worthy of starting spots against Celtic.
Up against a team that seemed to be sliding towards the relegation zone, they should have piled pressure on Partick from the first whistle.
Also, having worked so hard to claim a point with only 10 men against Inverness Caley Thistle in midweek, all the momentum and confidence should have been carried by the Tangerines.
Instead, they produced a terrible performance that ensured they finished a flat February with only one Premiership point out of a possible 12.
They have now lost to the Jags, St Johnstone and Kilmarnock, with the one draw coming against ICT.
The truth is that they deserved nothing from this game, with the visitors always looking the likelier victors despite going into the fixture on the back of home loss to Ross County.
Thistle took the lead on 35 minutes and the goal was a cracker.
A flowing move up the right saw Lyle Taylor back-heel the ball into the path of scorer Stephen O’Donnell, who curled the ball around the outstretched hand of United goalie Rado Cierzniak.
Partick moved further ahead on 41 minutes when Kallum Higginbotham’s corner from the left eluded the defence and eventually crossed the line when a deflection left Cierzniak helpless, with both Jarek Fojut – who was credited with the own goal – and Ryan McGowan in attendance.
The home team created precious little thereafter, with arguably their best move coming through second-half sub Mario Bilate, who threaded a great pass through to Henri Anier only for the Estonian to sclaff his shot on what was a poor playing surface.
Anier had another glaring chance in the closing moments but blasted high and wide after a cutback from Nadir Ciftci found him at the back post.
That miss just put the tin hat on a terrible day for the Tangerines.
Manager Jackie McNamara said: “We will have to play a lot better against Celtic than we did here – that’s for sure.
“As I have said many times before, sometimes it suits our lads being underdogs for some reason.
“However, when the expectation is there like today and against St Johnstone last week, for example, we haven’t handled it.
“We were down to 10 men against Inverness during the week and we showed a lot of desire and a different side to us.
“I think it’s all down to mentality and that’s something we need to correct, and what better way to do it than in a cup quarter-final tie against Celtic.
“I thought we had one or two still feeling the effects of playing so long on Tuesday night.
“I thought in the first half especially they (Thistle) were first to every ball.
“We had a couple of chances to get back into it but all round it was quite a flat performance like last Saturday against St Johnstone.
“It was disappointing because I had wanted the same energy and commitment as Tuesday night against Inverness and we didn’t have that.
“I think there were only a couple of plus points from the performance and one was (goalkeeper) Rado Cierzniak and his reaction.
“He handled coming back into the team well.
“The second one would probably be (striker) Mario Bilate coming on.
“He gave us a little lift and had a good pass to Henri towards the end but unfortunately it didn’t go in.
“However, I think that’s more down to the state of the pitch at the moment, rather than the lad’s touch and finish.”
United striker Ciftci was in his usual place at kick-off after the club declined the SFA compliance officer’s offer of a two-game ban for an alleged incident during Tuesday’s match against ICT. The matter will now go to a hearing at Hampden on Thursday.
A surprise absentee from the midfield was Calum Butcher, while Aidan Connolly dropped down to the bench.
Into the starting line-up came both Telfer and Spittal.
United had a good chance on 11 minutes that fell to Ciftci. Telfer took a corner from the left that was met by Fojut and played into the goalmouth to the Turk.
Ciftci, despite being just a few yards from goal, could only swipe at the ball and it flew up in the air rather than into the net.
Just three minutes later Cierzniak raced to the rescue when he blocked a Taylor shot with his feet after the Jags man beat the offside trap.
A freekick from Paul Paton was headed just over by Fojut on 17 minutes but the Tangerines weren’t playing well and it wasn’t a total surprise when they fell behind.
With 35 minutes on the clock, the Jags worked the ball up the right wind and when Taylor back-heeled the ball into the path of O’Donnell he curled a shot beyond Cierzniak’s outstretched arm and into the net.
It was 2-0 to Thistle on 41 minutes as the home side continued to struggle.
A corner was floated over from the left by Higgingbotham, who slipped in the process of taking the kick. Despite that, the ball cleared the near-post area then struck Fojut before bouncing into the net.
United made a switch eight minutes into the second half, bringing on Anier for Telfer.
The Tangerines’ frustration was summed up on the hour-mark when Fojut burst forward up the left flank on a promising run but could only pass into empty space.
On 72 minutes, it was inches away from being 3-0 when a Stuart Bannigan drive whizzed past the far post with Cierzniak rooted to the spot.
United brought on Bilate with 13 minutes left and the comeback man almost made an immediate impact. He threaded through a great pass that sent Anier clear but the Estonian couldn’t get the ball under control and sclaffed his shot.
The Tangerines huffed and puffed and had a penalty claim ignored on 90 minutes when Paul Dixon was floored then, three minutes into stoppage-time, Anier fluffed his shot again after Ciftci’s cutback.