It would be easy to call this a tale of two missiles.
One which struck visiting goalkeeper Owen Goodman on the head early in the second half after appearing to be thrown from the United fans behind his goal.
Another released earlier on from the right boot of Drey Wright which set Dundee up for a deserved derby win nailed down in the second period by a further goal from Owen Bevan.
It’s about more than that, though. It’s about the trajectory Dundee United are following, too, and the pressure intensifying on manager Jim Goodwin. If things don’t pick up tout suite, his reign is going to end up torpedoed.
The Tannadice outfit haven’t been stinking the place out, it must be said. They’ve had chances in recent games and had chances here, too, although it has to be said that most of them came in the latter stages when their city rivals were two goals to the good and with one eye on trying to protect what they had.
The problem is that they simply aren’t scoring while shipping really, really cheap and stupid goals. That’s ten conceded in their last three games now with none in response.
Owen Bevan is mobbed by team-mates after scoring Dundee’s second goal in the derby
Drey Wright broke the deadlock at Tannadice with a thunderous strike before half-time
They also find themselves at the wrong end of the table after three games with just one point. If things looked promising that Friday night they picked it up when enjoying the best of the game at home to Rangers and drawing 1-1, they certainly don’t now.
They could easily have lost by more here. They look like losing umpteen goals every time they play and that was accentuated all the more here by how solid Dundee looked at the back under the guidance of manager Steven Pressley, who has done such an admirable job at Dens.
Pressley was frustrated by the fact his side didn’t quite follow his game plan, but, my goodness, what togetherness and will-to-win they exhibited.
Ryan Astley was just a colossus, throwing himself in the way of everything at one end and helping set up that crucial second goal at the other.
The entire defence stood up to everything thrown at them, though, and it was that kind of battling spirit, that defiance, that was so badly missing from United at the key moments.
The opening goal, for example, was just a mess from their point of view. An embarrassment, really. It wasn’t just a case of terrible play. It was about failing to switch on, failing to commit to decisions, failing to close down. Everything about it, from the home side’s perspective, was just awful.
Abdoulaye Yoro was the main culprit. There is no other way of dressing it up. United were hitting on the counter when he picked the ball up in the centre of midfield and just played a slack, lazy diagonal ball that was never going to make its way to Jesse Randall in a month of Sundays.
Wright picked up possession and set sail, but the reaction from United was nothing short of disgraceful. Yoro, for one, just let his head drop and took himself out of the mix.
Wright, meanwhile, just kept on going. And going. No one advanced to close him down. Indeed, everyone in a tangerine shirt backed off.
Owen Bevan takes the acclaim as the visitors took the spoils in the Dundee derby
After picking the ball up midway inside his own half, the former St Johnstone man got himself to within 25 yards of the goal and just decided to let fly. And, by golly, what an effort it was.
Wright caught the ball perfectly with his right boot on that right flank and it travelled with the solitary purpose of an Exocet, final destination never in question, to beat goalkeeper Jack Walton to his right and nestle in the far corner.
The second was chaotic as well, to be fair. With the game heading towards the hour mark, Dee substitute Fin Robertson put in a corner from the left, which Astley headed into the heart of the danger zone.
Keeper Jack Walton got a fist to it, the ball fell to Alan Forrest and his low drive back across goal cannoned off the standing leg of Bevan, terrific alongside Astley at centre-back, as he was getting to his feet and zoomed into the far side of the net.
And that was that. There was some huffing and puffing and a number of changes from Goodwin later on, but Dundee were not for turning. Their rearguard saw this out really well and just rubbed in how inadequate their neighbours are in that vitally important department.
Of many things that must infuriate Goodwin, it’s the fact they almost looked like getting the game under some kind of control after a frantic and hardly enjoyable opening.
With Dundee having had a couple of efforts from Charlie Reilly and Joe Westley miss the target early doors, United then started to threaten in the latter stages of the opening 45.
A Mehdi Merghem corner was met by the head of Vicko Sevelj and it took a very good save from Goodman to claw the ball away from under the crossbar.
United had been the better team until that stage. They don’t look terribly dangerous in the final third – one of the reasons Goodwin made six changes to his line-up – but they had enjoyed most of the ball in a game that just needed more in the way of composure and quality from both sides. They just didn’t do enough with it.
Dark Blues boss Steven Pressley is calmness personified in the dugout as his side won
Wright’s rocket changed everything, though. Things might have been different had United levelled three minutes into the second half when Yoro was denied by a fine save from Goodman, with the left leg of all things, after releasing a powerful angled effort.
After that, though, the home side lost their way again – and a bleak afternoon for them was scarred by Goodman appearing to be struck on the right side of the head by that flying object.
The on-loan Crystal Palace man noticeably flinched when preparing to take a goal-kick and referee David Dickinson got involved quickly to remove the object from the turf and pass it to a member of Tannadice staff.
It was an appalling incident and it is to be hoped United will do all they can to find the culprit and prevent them from entering the stadium again. Scottish football was demeaned by all manner of crowd trouble last term and cannot afford the same again this time round.
A last-gasp block from Bert Esselink was required to stop Ethan Hamilton making it three on 69 minutes with a late flurry from the home side – with subs Zac Sapsford and Lachlan Rose passing up opportunities – changing nothing, really.
The Dens men are joint-top of the Premiership on six points now. That can only make what was a desperately bleak day for United even worse as Goodwin reflects on a derby in which one team left everything out there to take the spoils and the other just buckled. Again.
