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Published: 14th March 2022
United were in the hunt for a place at Hampden two years running as they welcomed title-hopefuls Celtic to Tannadice for the Scottish Cup Quarter-Final.
It was a memorable clash last time the sides met at this stage of the competition, an early flashpoint seeing the wrongful dismissal of Paul Paton and also Virgil van Dijk, and then Paul Dixon was sent for an early bath four minutes after the restart for a handball on the goal-line. Nadir Ciftci got the scoring underway just before the break with a perfectly placed spot-kick before Leigh Griffiths earned a replay for his team with a close-range finish with 20 to play.
Tam Courts made just one change to the XI which staged an inspired comeback against Hearts last weekend, as Kevin McDonald dropped to the bench to accommodate Dylan Levitt in central midfield. Liam Smith found himself again deployed alongside the Welshman in the middle of the park, United lining up in a 4-4-2 with the ball and a 5-3-2 without.
Celtic took control of proceedings from the off, but United kept their shape well to disrupt their opponents' attempts to combine intricately in the final third.
The first sighting of goal fell the way of Celtic three minutes in, Daizen Maeda hitting the roof of Siegrist’s net with an audacious effort from the left wing after latching onto a through ball beyond Kieran Freeman.
However, the visitors opened the scoring after just 12 minutes in frustrating fashion from a tangerine point of view. Matt O’Riley played a short corner to James Forrest who in turn found Calum McGregor unmarked on the edge of the 18-yard box. The Celtic captain opened his body with his first touch and drilled the ball low towards goal and his strike took a nick off the unfortunate Nicky Clark which wrong-footed Siegrist in the United net.
Reo Hatate somehow managed to escape further punishment for a dangerous lunge on Freeman by the touchline, referee John Beaton only willing to produce a caution when a sending off was perhaps the right decision.
Ryan Edwards was the first to try his luck in black and grey just after the half-hour mark, sending a speculative shot wide and over from 35 yards after being urged to shoot by the healthy home support.
Celtic almost doubled their lead twice in as many minutes. James Forrest strode powerfully down the right channel before attempting to pick out Giakoumakis in the middle. The Greek mistimed his effort but Maeda was on hand to squeeze it home from a tight angle. However, the goal was disallowed for an apparent handball during Giakoumakis’ miscue. Then McGregor burst forward onto the edge of the area and side-footed inches wide of the postage stamp under pressure from the onrushing United defence.
In the second half, the Terrors began to get a foothold in the match as they upped the intensity to put their counterparts under serious pressure whilst playing the ball out from defence, forcing multiple turnovers as the green and white backline were forced to go long to an isolated Giakoumakis who found himself aerially dominated by Calum Butcher and Edwards. United would then look to distribute into the wider regions for Ilmari Niskanen or Freeman but both failed to find teammates in the box with their deliveries.
Just as it looked as though the hosts were showing signs of finding an equaliser, Celtic delivered the killer blow. Maeda again involved, the Japanese drove to the byline and looked for Giakoumakis in the centre, his cross headed straight for Siegrist. The Swiss looked to have the situation under control but spilled the ball right at the feet of the Celtic striker who bundled it home from all of two yards to effectively end the Cup tie.
This goal deflated Courts’ side, as they failed to fashion a chance in the remaining 30 minutes.
There were opportunities at the other end though, Cameron Carter-Vickers’ found his effort from a corner cleared off the line by Clark then Giakoumakis’ header into the ground was easily held by Siegrist. O’Reilly’s weak shot from the top of the box also suffered a similar fate.
There was a debut for 17-year-old Miller Thomson as the match entered its final quarter, who became the fifteenth Academy graduate to feature for the first-team this season.
The Hoops rounded off the scoring with two to play. Substitute Karamoko Dembele raced through on goal, found by Rogic, and stroked it towards the far post. Siegrist managed to get a hand to the ball, but Giakoumakis was on hand to untidily scramble it into the net again from inside the six-yard area, his second of the evening
A disappointing evening for United who competed throughout the majority of the game but were made to pay for unforced errors.
