Tekel Towers » FALKIRK V DUFC

United Arab Emarite · 14/2/2026 4:59 pm

ya fukn beauty!

redford_must_score · 14/2/2026 5:05 pm

Where to start with that.

But the one word that springs to mind is character.

A much needed 3 points and Zac's worst game for us done and out of the way.

Tangy · 14/2/2026 5:21 pm

A very welcome 3 points.

Our back 3 imo, lack 1 person who will go abd attack a ball. Think it was the 2nd where they stood in a line watching the boy shoot from 12 yards. 1 of them needs to put their body on the line.

Think the red was the right decision from the point that watters is 1 v 1 albeit for out...but was st top speed when he was taken out.

I'd love us to be a bit more fluid in attack. No point breaking at speed them trap jogs down the line and let's the defence make their way back. Sapsford didnt look like he remember how to play the 1 up front and too used to being out wide.

I'll take the 3 points and hope that its the start of s turn around in form

Tek · 14/2/2026 5:53 pm

A huge win!

Strange game though. Massively scrappy and some awful individual performances (Sapsford, Luca, Iovu,), but we've somehow scraped a win against a strangely flat looking Falkirk.

My player ratings -

AMB - 7 Still not massively convinced by him, but he did pull off one outstanding save at 2-2 that was pivotal.

Iovu 6 - I agreed with starting him, but by fuck he made a lot of mistakes today. Gives me the fear when he's up at the half way line and let's the ball bounce or fouls someone.

Graham 8 - Our MotM. Good quick finish for our 1st equaliser. Unlucky not to score a 2nd too.

KK 6 - Didn't do much wrong, but not particularly great either.

Ferry 7 - Decent enough display. Typical Ferry really. Good with the ball at his feet but his final delivery let him down constantly.

Strain 6 - Tried hard and put a lot into the game.

Sibbald 8 - Great display capped off with his excellent finish for our 2nd equaliser.

Stephenson 4 - What is going on with him? Absolutely miles off it again today. Been the case since the Livi game last Hogmanay. Is he playing injured? Needs dropped.

Farrugia 6 - Don't think the guy is a bad player, per se, but just don't see him as a difference maker. Doesn't appear to me to be an attacking winger and didn't offer anything going forward, but tidy enough on the ball.

Sapsford 4 - Genuinely awful and like Luca this has been the case for weeks. Again, is he playing injured? Massive drop off in his form. Worrying.

Trapanovski 6 - A genuinely frustrating individual. Starts every match well, but after 15-20 minutes that always tails off. Normally after the first thing doesn't go his way (a defender wins a tackle or he gets a knock). Doubtless be injured now for awhile. Easy enough decision to let him go in the Summer imo.

Subs -

Watters 4 - Anonymous. Offers nothing. If we don't sign another Striker then just play Owen Stirton. He can't offer any less than Moller and Stirton have.

Sevelj 6 - Done pretty well.

Dolcek 6 - Thought he done 'ok'. Technically got an assist for the winner. He cannot defend to save his life though. Should just let him focus on what he's good at i.e. getting forward.

Eskesen 7 - Fantastic winner. Absolutely delighted for the guy and he looked elated at Full Time. Hoping he stays now and this sparks something in him.

lifesanocean · 14/2/2026 6:02 pm

Great win, still clearly issues at the back but at least we are scoring goals again. A Killie defeat tomorrow would set up a huge game next week. A chance for us to probably get ourselves safe and maybe still have an outside chance of top 6.

BMT · 14/2/2026 6:12 pm

A great 3 points considering some of the individual performances today.

kdyteejay · 14/2/2026 6:25 pm

Fantastic result today to stop the bleeding. I thought Kereztes was at fault several times at taking the ball forward only to lose it to a Falkirk player and have us seriously on the back foot.

SuperMario · 14/2/2026 7:32 pm

Tek wrote:
A huge win!

Strange game though. Massively scrappy and some awful individual performances (Sapsford, Luca, Iovu,), but we've somehow scraped a win against a strangely flat looking Falkirk.

My player ratings -

AMB - 7 Still not massively convinced by him, but he did pull off one outstanding save at 2-2 that was pivotal.

Iovu 6 - I agreed with starting him, but by fuck he made a lot of mistakes today. Gives me the fear when he's up at the half way line and let's the ball bounce or fouls someone.

Graham 8 - Our MotM. Good quick finish for our 1st equaliser. Unlucky not to score a 2nd too.

KK 6 - Didn't do much wrong, but not particularly great either.

Ferry 7 - Decent enough display. Typical Ferry really. Good with the ball at his feet but his final delivery let him down constantly.

Strain 6 - Tried hard and put a lot into the game.

Sibbald 8 - Great display capped off with his excellent finish for our 2nd equaliser.

Stephenson 4 - What is going on with him? Absolutely miles off it again today. Been the case since the Livi game last Hogmanay. Is he playing injured? Needs dropped.

Farrugia 6 - Don't think the guy is a bad player, per se, but just don't see him as a difference maker. Doesn't appear to me to be an attacking winger and didn't offer anything going forward, but tidy enough on the ball.

Sapsford 4 - Genuinely awful and like Luca this has been the case for weeks. Again, is he playing injured? Massive drop off in his form. Worrying.

Trapanovski 6 - A genuinely frustrating individual. Starts every match well, but after 15-20 minutes that always tails off. Normally after the first thing doesn't go his way (a defender wins a tackle or he gets a knock). Doubtless be injured now for awhile. Easy enough decision to let him go in the Summer imo.

Subs -

Watters 4 - Anonymous. Offers nothing. If we don't sign another Striker then just play Owen Stirton. He can't offer any less than Moller and Stirton have.

Sevelj 6 - Done pretty well.

Dolcek 6 - Thought he done 'ok'. Technically got an assist for the winner. He cannot defend to save his life though. Should just let him focus on what he's good at i.e. getting forward.

Eskesen 7 - Fantastic winner. Absolutely delighted for the guy and he looked elated at Full Time. Hoping he stays now and this sparks something in him.

Think your being very generous with KK, horrendous

Billy_Hainey · 14/2/2026 9:03 pm

Wasna looking forward to this match TBO, I thought we were gonna struggle to get anything fae this gehm, given the recent run of Fuckirk.

In all honesty, am a wee bit shocked. I thought we'd had oor chips when they took the lead, baeth times.

No so doon in the dumps now tho. Well done to the lads for sticking we it.

Tek · 14/2/2026 9:24 pm

SuperMario wrote:

Think your being very generous with KK, horrendous

Possibly.

You could perhaps blame him somewhat for their 2nd goal, though Graham, Kerezstes and Ferry all threw their hands up at each other in accusation. I'd say it was a general clusterfuck.

Iovu though, Holy fuck. Just gave away so many stupid fouls. That foul he gave away in the last minute, my God i was angry at the time.

Right in front of the ref and gives the 10 men a free kick in a good position in the 89th minute. Just absolutely moronic stuff. Learnt nothing from the Hibs game in that respect.

SuperMario · 14/2/2026 9:58 pm

Tek wrote:
SuperMario wrote:

Think your being very generous with KK, horrendous
Possibly.

You could perhaps blame him somewhat for their 2nd goal, though Graham, Kerezstes and Ferry all threw their hands up at each other in accusation. I'd say it was a general clusterfuck.

Iovu though, Holy fuck. Just gave away so many stupid fouls. That foul he gave away in the last minute, my God i was angry at the time.

Right in front of the ref and gives the 10 men a free kick in a good position in the 89th minute. Just absolutely moronic stuff. Learnt nothing from the Hibs game in that respect.

1st goal is poor from him too

Lovu is incredibly infuriating, he’s so rash, however I actually think he’s a decent defender and for me he’s a starter.

If we are persistent with this back 3, id possibly bring Bert back in with Graham and lovu either side of him, I don’t mind sevelj on the right hand side either though, going forward we need a settled back 3

The keepers save at 2-2 is outstanding just seen highlights there

LocheeArab · 14/2/2026 10:27 pm

Good result today no doubt and showed a bit about ourselves coming back from a goal down twice.
Feel the red card forced Goodwin into the change of formation and tbh if we want a chance of top six then a 4 at the back is the only way we'll do that. We just haven't been able to defend our box all season and with that being the case then why set in stone play 3 CBs?
With a run of home games and two very winnable games to reach a cup semi just do what is feasible for this squad, play on the front foot and get at these teams.

redford_must_score · 15/2/2026 12:43 am

A couple of observations from today

The new keeper is doing really well. Suddenly we're not talking keepers. Which is a pleasant change.
I keep wanting to call him Average White-Band.

I've been really critical of Watters, really critical, but it was his strength combined with quick movement that got Henderson sent off. And maybe that was a turning point.

Subs - as the game progressed their fire burned out a bit and we got stronger.
The depth in our squad won that game for us.
Great to have Svelje back, he made a real difference.
Dolcek worked well with Strain on the right and eventually that was where the winner came from.

Trapanovski likely out injured on Tuesday, probably should have been withdrawn earlier.. Same with Stephenson who has been really poor recently and I wonder if it's because he's carrying an injury. I really feel for Luca because he's a great lad, an absolute warrior in a team lacking them but he's not a midfield player in a 2 playing in a 343
He's either a right back in a 4 or a wing back in that 343.

Back 3. I'm sure you know it's driving me nuts. Would I be right in saying we've tried every back 3 combination available to us and none has looked secure?
I expect Goodwin will try yet another back 3 tombola combo on Tuesday.

Dolcek. Think someone somewhere posted last week that a manager has to compensate for a flair player like him and not expect him to be defending every opposition attack. I'd really like to see him getting the next 2 or 3 games to see if we can kickstart his firepower.

Arabdownsouth · 15/2/2026 8:19 am

Sibbald not celebrating his goal and hardly reacting to Eskesens either tells me he's found his new (old) club. He's been away from there long enough to celebrate scoring against them in my opinion so it has to be that he's signed a pre contract I reckon.

JerryDungle · 15/2/2026 9:11 am

Arabdownsouth wrote:
Sibbald not celebrating his goal and hardly reacting to Eskesens either tells me he's found his new (old) club. He's been away from there long enough to celebrate scoring against them in my opinion so it has to be that he's signed a pre contract I reckon.

I believe he has signed a pre-contract with them.

SuperMario · 15/2/2026 10:00 am

Arabdownsouth wrote:
Sibbald not celebrating his goal and hardly reacting to Eskesens either tells me he's found his new (old) club. He's been away from there long enough to celebrate scoring against them in my opinion so it has to be that he's signed a pre contract I reckon.

We should be putting up a fight to keep him

Arabdownsouth · 15/2/2026 10:30 am

JerryDungle wrote:
Arabdownsouth wrote:
Sibbald not celebrating his goal and hardly reacting to Eskesens either tells me he's found his new (old) club. He's been away from there long enough to celebrate scoring against them in my opinion so it has to be that he's signed a pre contract I reckon.

I believe he has signed a pre-contract with them.

Then as much as he was probably our best player yesterday, I dont want him playing in the cup game against them if we get that far of course.

RogerTheAlien · 15/2/2026 12:01 pm

Delighted with the win. Game was overall scrappy and we’ve usually end up losing these type of games over the past few months so it was good to finally get that winning feeling back.

The defence was all over the shop until KK went off. Graham over at LCB, Iovu in the middle and Vicko at RCB was much more solid. I’d start that 3 against Spartans. AMB was solid, made a great save up their end. Sibbald was very good, my motm. Luca was a bit off it, i would rest him to the bench for Pan Cam for Tuesday.

I don’t think either team deserved the win but i was delighted for Eskesen, he enjoyed that. Good luck to him if he’s hopefully sold.

dyed in the wool · 15/2/2026 1:08 pm

Arabdownsouth wrote:
Sibbald not celebrating his goal and hardly reacting to Eskesens either tells me he's found his new (old) club. He's been away from there long enough to celebrate scoring against them in my opinion so it has to be that he's signed a pre contract I reckon.

I find it phucking pathetic behaviour.

His puss is tripping him when he scores and he doesn't join in with the team for the winner. It's not like he's scoring to relegate them.

For the record, I rate Sibs and would rather he stick around for another year at least but not celebrating when you/your team scores gives me the boak.

Last edited by dyed in the wool (15/2/2026 1:09 pm)

Arabdownsouth · 15/2/2026 1:40 pm

dyed in the wool wrote:
Arabdownsouth wrote:
Sibbald not celebrating his goal and hardly reacting to Eskesens either tells me he's found his new (old) club. He's been away from there long enough to celebrate scoring against them in my opinion so it has to be that he's signed a pre contract I reckon.

I find it phucking pathetic behaviour.

His puss is tripping him when he scores and he doesn't join in with the team for the winner. It's not like he's scoring to relegate them.

For the record, I rate Sibs and would rather he stick around for another year at least but not celebrating when you/your team scores gives me the boak.

Yeah agree totally, we'd just lost 4 league games in a row. That's Dundee United your current fucking employer that youve been letting down for weeks and thats the reaction to scoring and winning a game? Embarrassing! And just plain shitey behaviour not to congratulate Eskesen for his goal, or hardly anyway. Bench the cunt and get Camara back in. Don't want anyone playing for my fucking club that wants to be somewhere else. Would absolutely love to see them implode from now on in too.

Snacks94 · 15/2/2026 1:49 pm

Regardless of how much he celebrated our goals yesterday he was our best player. Dropping him weakens the team.

I will be disappointed if he is leaving, would have liked him to have been given a new deal.

Morphman · 15/2/2026 3:08 pm

Couldn't give a fuck how much he celebrated. Long as he plays well he can run past our support giving us the finger tbh.

If he has signed a pre-contract with Falkirk maybe he's just annoyed we didn't make an offer (or didn't offer what he wanted), but over the last few years our fans have wanted contract renewals of McMann, Docherty, Gallagher to name a few and Goodwin, like him or loathe him, has been right to not renew any of them given what they've gone on to do since.

Long as he performs on the pitch, everything else is secondary.

Arabdownsouth · 15/2/2026 3:29 pm

Morphman wrote:
Couldn't give a fuck how much he celebrated. Long as he plays well he can run past our support giving us the finger tbh.

If he has signed a pre-contract with Falkirk maybe he's just annoyed we didn't make an offer (or didn't offer what he wanted), but over the last few years our fans have wanted contract renewals of McMann, Docherty, Gallagher to name a few and Goodwin, like him or loathe him, has been right to not renew any of them given what they've gone on to do since.

Long as he performs on the pitch, everything else is secondary.

Each to their own I guess

RogerTheAlien · 15/2/2026 3:43 pm

Morphman wrote:
Couldn't give a fuck how much he celebrated. Long as he plays well he can run past our support giving us the finger tbh.

If he has signed a pre-contract with Falkirk maybe he's just annoyed we didn't make an offer (or didn't offer what he wanted), but over the last few years our fans have wanted contract renewals of McMann, Docherty, Gallagher to name a few and Goodwin, like him or loathe him, has been right to not renew any of them given what they've gone on to do since.

Long as he performs on the pitch, everything else is secondary.

Sibbald’s been solid for us but Pan Cam and Vicko are better. It wouldn’t be hard to sign a better replacement but i wouldn’t mind him signing an extension.

David_Blunkett · 15/2/2026 5:07 pm

Simply.

Any player at United who gets to the stage where they're signing a pre-contract with a club we should be looking to finish above (all things being equal) doesn't really have a future at the club as we'd have sorted this already if we felt he was the answer.

Faruggia, Agyei, Randall, boys signed now/a pre-contract with a view to next season, If the manager wanted Sibbald to be a part of that, I guess we'd have offered him something.