Dundee United 0 - 0 St Mirren: Painful viewing at Tannadice as teams serve up ‘brutal’ stuff

St Mirren failed to produce a single decent effort on goal, which is not so surprising, given that their previous two league matches were also scoreless. No sooner had Lennon said his team were fortunate to leave with a point than Houston was saying the same about his team.

United were slightly better up front, but not so much that their manager was about to get carried away. When it was put to him that the match had been a disappointment, Houston begged to differ. “I thought it was brutal,” he said. “The goalkeepers didn’t even need their gloves today. From middle to front, we have better quality than that.”

After two spectacular away wins, at Ibrox and McDiarmid Park, this was another dismal Tannadice showing for United, who have won only three league games at home all season, two of those against Hibernian and Dunfermline.

United are not alone in preferring the road. Rangers, Motherwell, St Johnstone, Hibs and Dunfermline have all won more league games on their travels than they have at home, although Houston is unlikely to be consoled. He knows that his side are capable of so much more.

With a biting wind, and intermittent snow, sweeping down the Tannadice pitch, neither side looked comfortable. United were the more inventive of the two, which wasn’t saying much. As usual, their crosses into the penalty box posed the biggest threat, as did Jon Daly on the end of them, but the big Irishman failed to take advantage.

Daly takes a bit of flak for the opportunities he passes up, but at least he is in there, buying a ticket. When Paul Dixon, so often the source of United’s supply, picked the striker out with an early ball into the box, the header wide coincided with an offside flag. A better opening arrived a few minutes later, again when Dixon crossed, this time with an inswinging free kick from the right. Gavin Gunning headed it back across the goalkeeper, and although the sliding Daly made every effort to divert the ball over the line, he failed to connect.

Dixon was also behind a sequence of headers that might have led to an opener. His cross was nodded into the box by Robbie Neilson, where Daly flicked it on and Johnny Russell prepared to shoot. Marc McAusland’s timely intervention denied the striker a pop at goal.

All of which took place in a brief first-half flurry that bore little resemblance to the rest of a stultifying opening period. St Mirren did not offer the slightest threat in attack, and a United penalty claim, when Stuart Armstrong went down under a challenge from Jerron Tesselaar, seemed almost dutiful.

St Mirren opened the second half with more intent, but there was still no spark in the final third. On one occasion, when Graham Carey’s low cross somehow slipped through a hesitant defender, Gary Teale was so taken aback by the time and space afforded him that he forgot to control the ball. When an hour of this one-dimensional fare had elapsed, both managers ran out of patience. Houston introduced Milos Lacny for Armstrong. Danny Lennon went one better, bringing on both Nigel Hasselbaink and Aaron Mooy for Teale and Carey respectively.

For a moment, there seemed to be a bit more zip about both sides, although it was not a substitute who brought about the first decent save of the match. With 20 minutes left, Russell collected the ball on the edge of the box, spun and hit a left-foot shot that Craig Samson did well to tip round the post.

At the other end, St Mirren even managed a sniff at goal, not before time. When Gunning seemed to leave a cross by Dougie Imrie, Hasselbaink stole in behind the defender, only to find that his sliding frame was not long enough to connect. Then Paul McGowan, who had been industrious enough throughout, tried his luck with a long-range effort, but it sailed over the top.