Dundee Utd 0 - 0 St Johnstone: Thrills in short supply as lack of depth starts to bite at Tannadice

The summer brought an exodus of experience, with the likes of Morgaro Gomis, Prince Buaben and David Goodwillie leaving the club. Although Houston was able to re-invest in the likes of Willo Flood and John Rankin, the squad at Tannadice is looking distinctly threadbare.

With a youthful core this season, United are struggling to hit the heights of previous campaigns, with just one league win from their last ten outings.

The Tannadice manager cut a frustrated figure at full-time after watching his inexperienced charges fail to break down a determined St Johnstone side.

In ideal circumstances, Houston said he would not play such a young side, pointing out: “The average age of our side was 22. There is obviously a gulf in experience there. We are having to blood young players, and we’ll just get on with it.

“We are a very young side, and I look over to St Johnstone, who have good experienced players, and their three young boys on the bench don’t get near the pitch.”

Despite Houston’s understandable conviction that there were mitigating circumstances behind a poor performance, United’s failure to capitalise on their large amount of possession against St Johnstone owed more to a lack of attacking incisiveness than to any inexperience.

The home side failed to regularly unsettle a diligent, organised Saints defence, although the lively young Lauri Dalla Valle did flash a couple of headers off target.

Garry Kenneth had United’s best attempt, crashing a fantastic 30-yard free-kick against the crossbar. While it was a super strike, the hopeful nature and distance of the effort was indicative of desperate measures in the final third.

St Johnstone offered precious little in terms of decent chances either, but Francisco Sandaza could have earned them all three points, only for Dusan Pernis to block his point-blank effort in the second half.

Jody Morris, one of the experienced sort of campaigners Houston bemoaned his lack of, said his display illustrated a willingness and ability to keep on playing for as long as possible.

Club skipper Morris has been appointed stand-in assistant to caretaker manager Alec Cleland in the wake of Derek McInnes’ departure for Bristol City but has no plans to hang up his boots at present.

“I’m 32 years of age and I feel fitter than I did ten years ago,” the former Chelsea and Leeds man Morris said. “I’m not thinking for one second that I will stop playing or anything like that. I’m a player and I plan to keep playing for a good few years yet.

“I haven’t had the chance to sit down and think about things properly. I felt I had a duty to the fans, the chairman and the players to help us prepare for Saturday. I’m sure things will become clearer next week. I have enjoyed this week, and coaching is definitely something I’d like to get into – whether or not it’s now that I want to get into it is another matter.”