THERE is no denying it any longer. Yesterday's 2-1 home defeat to Hamilton Accies plunged Dundee United further into the relegation mire and prompted manager Mixu Paatelainen to admit they are engulfed in a crisis.
Paatelainen's team once more contrived to throw it all way and now sit seven points adrift of second-bottom Motherwell after relinquishing their lead in the same manner as they did against St Johnstone last weekend.
Billy Mckay put them ahead in the first half but United's fragility was exposed when Gavin Gunning's 70th-minute own goal saw them start to crumble. Ziggy Gordon's 79th-minute winner then ensured they suffered for passing up a series of chances.
Paatelainen faces a far harder job than he first imagined when he replaced Jackie McNamara last month and he admitted crisis isn't too strong a word to sum up his side's situation. "I don't think it is,” the Finn said. “We're not winning matches. We're losing matches and even draws are valuable when you look at where we are in the league table.
“It looks like as soon as our opponents score one goal, we are an easy target after that. Simply, we need stronger characters. We had chance after chance to put the game to bed. It wasn't just shots as goal. It was one-on-one situations with their goalkeeper, so our strikers must look in the mirror.
“When you have the game under control like we did in the first half, you must win it. That's the reason why we are where we are in the league table. We are not strong enough.”
Hamilton threatened first when, midway through the first half, Gramoz Kurtaj slid a pass through to Carlton Morris.
Morris carved out sufficient space to angle a left-foot shot towards the far corner of Michal Szromnik's goal, only to see it flash inches wide.
But United took the lead in some style in 29 minutes. John Souttar sliced open the Hamilton defence with a weighted pass. On the turn, Mckay steadied himself and shot past Michael McGovern, who went on to enjoy an oustanding afternoon in the visitors' goal, from 10 yards.
The home side threatened again in 32 minutes when Mckay set Blair Spittal free with McGovern advancing off his line. It looked likely the hosts would add to their lead, but Spittal's finished lacked conviction and McGovern blocked well.
After 42 minutes, United ought to have gone further ahead after Spittal sent John Rankin through on goal, but his toe-poke didn't have enough purchase to find a way past McGovern.
The pattern remained much the same after the break. Spittal released McKay who had only McGovern to beat, but his effort was superbly saved.
United were soon made to regret that miss. From Ali Crawford's corner, Lucas Tagliapietra attacked the ball at the near post. He was beaten to it by Gunning, only for the defender to head it into his own net.
Worse was to follow for United. As their defence backed off, an initial shot from Crawford was blocked, but Gordon was on hand to steer his left-foot finish, from low past the despairing Szromnik for his first goal of the season.
Hamilton's first win in seven games propelled them into fifth place in the table ahead of their trip to take on Celtic at Parkhead next weekend.
“We've played better and not won,” manager Martin Canning said. “I didn't think we battled hard enough in the first half. I had a wee go at a few of them at half-time and thought we got a reaction.”
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