Beating your rivals never gets old

[BBC]

Dundee United fans have long had a soft spot for the song Beautiful Sunday. As it turns out, they picked a good one to live up to the name.

For the final time this season the city rivals squared off. For United, it was all about bragging rights and finishing above them yet again, pretty standard business really.

For the other lot, it was slightly more pressing, their top-flight survival depended on it. No pressure.

United are floating in an end-of-season limbo. Too good to go down, not quite consistent enough to play in the top six, just trying to nail down seventh place and call it a day.

The visitors arrived with big claims. A multi-million-pound centre-half in the making, a supposedly in-demand goalkeeper, and a tactical system dubbed 'Pressleyball'.

We've had tiki-taka and gegenpressing, but this sounds more like something you'd play on the beach on your holidays.

So how did United cope? Pretty well, actually.

The first half was classic derby fare, scrappy, tense and not exactly one for the purists.

The breakthrough came in gloriously chaotic fashion. Zac Sapsford fired a shot that was heading somewhere in the general direction of goal, only for Will Ferry, seated on the turf, to unintentionally intervene.

The ball bounced off his knee and trickled in off the post. The highly sought-after keeper? Rooted. Possibly still processing what he'd just witnessed.

The second half followed a familiar script, a bit of early pressure from the visitors, lots of huffing, puffing and not much else.

Then Ferry, clearly deciding one accidental goal wasn't enough for his highlight reel, picked up a pass from Vicko Sevelj, took a touch and absolutely rifled one in from the edge of the box. The keeper, once again, opted for a front-row viewing experience.

At 2-0 in a derby, nerves are inevitable (recent memories at Dens still sting), so the obvious solution? Score a third.

Ferry wasn't done. He danced down the byeline, thoroughly embarrassed his marker and floated in a perfect cross for Ryan Strain to bag his first goal for the club. Judging by the celebration, it's fair to say he enjoyed it. As for the keeper, well, let's just say he remained consistent.

And that was that. 3-0. Job done.

'Pressleyball' dismantled, over 10,000 United fans in full voice and bragging rights safely tucked away for the summer.

There might not have been everything on the line in this one, but beating your rivals never gets old.

A beautiful Sunday indeed.

Paul McNicoll can be found at the Dode Fox Podcast