The Tangerines lost 2-0 at home to Airdrie in the Scottish Championship.
Jim Goodwin called Dundee United’s lacklustre home loss to Airdrie “a major frustration” and made no attempt to see any silver lining in the outcome.
The Tangerines’ Championship lead has been wiped out as a result of their loss; Raith Rovers and Morton drew to equal the score.
United leads the leaderboard based only on goal differential.
Goodwin acknowledges that his team’s performance at home this season has been far from satisfactory, and that the main problem against the Diamonds was a lack of possession.
“We’re all really frustrated about it,” the United manager remarked.
“This season, I haven’t had to be too hard on the guys. We played really well that night and should have won the final game we lost at Raith.
“I can’t argue with anyone about the outcome tonight. We had excelled at possession the entire season, but we weren’t good enough there.
We’ve only lost four of our last 25 league games, so I could attempt to see the bright side, but we still need to improve at home.
“That’s not something we’ve done all season. Along the journey, there have been highs and lows. For a brief period, Raith held the upper hand, and we attempted to retake them.
“After that, we created a small opening, but sadly, it has closed.
“Tonight will teach us a lot of valuable lessons.”
Gabby McGill’s header put the Diamonds ahead, while Josh O’Connor’s late goal gave United a lead as the home team attempted to rally for an equaliser.
Goodwin acknowledged that his team needed improvement all over the pitch, particularly in the first forty-five minutes.
Dundee United ‘really sloppy’
“We were poor throughout the course of the game, particularly first half,” said Goodwin.
“Really slow in possession, really sloppy at times. We never really had control in the opening 45 minutes.
“Second half, I thought we started really brightly for the opening five or seven minutes but unfortunately never really created anything clear-cut.
“That’s the biggest frustration of the night, when we did get into those good areas, we just didn’t do enough with it.
“We played poorly the entire game, but especially in the first half,” Goodwin remarked.
Really sloppy at times and slow in possession. We were never really in charge for the first forty-five minutes.
“In the second half, I felt we got off to a really good start for the first five or seven minutes, but we were unable to really establish anything decisive.
“We just didn’t do enough with it when we did get into those excellent areas, and that’s the biggest frustration of the night.
