Dundee United stand on the brink of relegation from the cinch Premiership after Kyle Vassell’s double sent Kilmarnock on their way to a 3-0 victory at Tannadice which keeps them in pole position in the battle for survival.
United suffered a fourth consecutive defeat which, coupled with Ross County’s draw against St Johnstone, left them needing a hugely unlikely turn of events on the final day on Sunday to avoid a second relegation in seven years.
United need to beat in-form Motherwell at Fir Park and hope Killie beat Ross County and somehow engineer an eight-goal swing along the way.
Killie are three points ahead of County but will need to get at least a point against the Dingwall side on Sunday to stay out of the play-off spot.
United boss Jim Goodwin admitted after his side’s third consecutive defeat on Saturday against Livingston that they “keep shooting ourselves in the foot” with defensive errors, and the two goals they conceded in the first half to Vassell were textbook examples.
The home side went down with a whimper and Innes Cameron came off the bench to net a late third on the counter-attack.
Goodwin had made some major decisions in his team selection. Mark Birighitti was dropped after the goalkeeper’s latest blunder in a difficult season and 21-year-old Jack Newman was handed his second start for the club. His first ended in a 4-0 defeat by Ross County. Steven Fletcher started after missing Saturday’s game with a groin injury and Peter Pawlett made his fourth start of the season.
Defenders Chris Stokes and Ash Taylor returned from injury for Killie and, with David Watson and Liam Donnelly dropping out through suspension and injury respectively, Liam Polworth and Brad Lyons came into their midfield.
The opener came in the 14th minute after Loick Ayina tried to dribble past a third opponent on his way out of his own penalty box. The United centre-back overran the ball, lunged into a strong tackle which went unpunished by referee Alan Muir, but the ball was in the corner of the net two seconds later after ultimately falling for Vassell 18 yards out.
Vassell soon came close to an extraordinary second goal. The striker chested the ball down inside the centre circle with his back to goal and turned and lobbed Newman, who did well to backtrack and push the ball over his bar almost on the line.
The Northern Ireland international did net again in the 44th minute after more sloppy play in possession from the hosts.
Ilmari Niskanen played a slack pass towards Ayina, Christian Doidge won the ball and lifted it over Newman before being cleaned out by the goalkeeper. Vassell made sure there was no need for a penalty by knocking the ball home.
United were booed off at half-time after an unconvincing attacking display. Fletcher and Pawlett both fluffed good chances before being flagged offside anyway, and the former volleyed over first time.
Goodwin brought on Dylan Levitt and Glenn Middleton for the second half but there was little sign of improvement.
Vassell went off injured following a foul by Charlie Mulgrew but his replacement, Cameron, marked his return from nine months out with injury by converting following Rory McKenzie’s break forward in the 83rd minute.
Rory McLeod hit the post for United before Sam Walker saved from another sub, Miller Thomson, but most of the home fans had already left.
A late goal for Ross County was set to put United down until former United player Ryan McGowan levelled for St Johnstone, but their fate is all but sealed.
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
Clement wants ruthless Rangers after nervy win over Hearts
Rangers boss Philippe Clement called on his team to show greater ruthlessness after they were made to work for a 1-0 win over Hearts in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.
Cyriel Dessers put the Gers ahead after just six minutes at Ibrox, diverting James Tavernier's effort past visiting goalkeeper Craig Gordon.
However, Clement's team failed to build on that quick start and inched over the line amid a tense atmosphere, moving back to within nine points of pacesetters Celtic and Aberdeen.
Speaking after the game, Clement acknowledged his players are fatigued after a gruelling run of fixtures but added they must start taking their chances.
"We made too many wrong choices with the ball and became too sloppy," Clement said.
"It's the end of a very busy period, though, with a lot of travelling and they're all human beings, not robots.
"We missed scoring the second goal and we know that until you get that goal the other team stays in the game, so I want us to kill the belief of the opponent faster.
"I'm very satisfied with the result and the deserved three points. We didn't show the same quality in the second half and we didn't finish off the game. We had a few chances, but it stays nervous until the last second."
Rangers host Dundee United after the international break, while Celtic visit Hearts and Aberdeen travel to St. Mirren.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
