Dundee United have ended their summer holidays with a trip abroad.
The Tannadice side yesterday got their pre-season schedule under way with a defeat by German side Union Berlin, an outing designed to help the visitors gel but which felt a little like a holiday away with the lads.
There is a need to attach significance to any football match, although Jackie McNamara will give little notice to the numbers which shone out from the electronic scoreboard. Rather, the United manager had his eye on the 19 outfield players he chose to reintroduce to competitive action in Germany. It was an eclectic mix, since senior players were mixed with trialists and Graham Carey – looking for work after leaving St Mirren at the end of last season – came close to marking his chance with a late goal.
The Irishman has fostered a reputation for conjuring spectacular strikes and he suggested it is a talent which has yet to abandon him, cutting a free-kick just past a post.
It was another unfamiliar arrival who would find a route to goal, with Brian Graham celebrating his first appearance since signing from Raith Rovers by scoring after 70 minutes. The striker worked room in the box and headed in from a free-kick.
It was marked by Graham extending one finger skyward. Three fewer than Berlin had already used to count their goals. The home side had been 4-0 up by then, with Adam Nemec, Mattuschka Skrzybski, Steven Skrzybski and Simon Terodde each scoring past Marc McCallum.
There was a defeat for Partick Thistle, too, as they began pre-season away to Gateshead. John Baird scored late in a 2-1 loss to the Blue Square Premier side, a match in which former United players Rory Boulding and Mark Kerr both featured as trialists for Partick.
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