following tonight's 4-1 win over Aberdeen at
Tynecastle and will face Rangers at Hampden Park on 16
March - but there will certainly be an enquiry after
the game was marred by shameful crowd scenes at both
ends, with Dons goalkeeper Jamie Langfield in
particular being a constant target for moronic missile
throwers amongst the Tannadice faithful.
The tie, originally scheduled for last Tuesday but
postponed due to torrential rain and a waterlogged
pitch, finally went ahead tonight on a heavy surface.
United looked the likelier from the opening minutes
but the first real goal threat came from Aberdeen in
fourteen minutes when Joshua Walker's twenty-yard
drive flashed just wide.
Four minutes later it was the Pittodrie men who opened
the scoring when a Derek Young corner produced a
scramble in front of the United goal before Andrew
Considine stepped in to net.
Aberdeen had scarcely had time to enjoy the fact that
they had the lead before they were pegged back when a
Craig Conway free-kick was headed home by Darren Dods
in 22 minutes.
United now had the upper hand, and were inches away
from taking the lead quarter of an hour on when
another Dods headflick, this time from a Willo Flood
cross, was just missed at the near post by the
inrushing Lee Wilkie and Christian Kalvenes.
Level at the interval, the game took a sinister turn
ten minutes after the restart when Referee Iain
Brines, having his usual nightmare, was obliged to
hold up play to retrieve missiles hurled at Dons
'keeper Jamie Langfield.
Whether these shameful scenes were a distraction or
not, the simple fact is that the game took a critical
turn on the hour when Kalvenes headed home a Conway
corner to give United the lead.
Six minutes later it was 3-1 when Conway went clean
through on Langfield, his first shot being blocked by
the goalkeeper only for the United forward to coolly
slot home the rebound.
The roof was falling in on Aberdeen, who were reduced
to ten men in seventy minutes when Lee Miller, having
been yellow-carded earlier for a foul on David
Robertson, received a second and subsequent red for a
foul on Dods.
The Pittodrie defence had been shambolic all night,
and just to cap a truly woeful display they conceded a
farcical fourth goal when Scott Severin was short with
his passback to Langfield - the goalkeeper's attempted
clearance cannoning off Morgaro Gomis and into the
net.
Dundee United will now face Rangers in the final, the
third such occasion on which the two clubs have
crossed swords at the ultimate stage of the
tournament, and on tonight's display they will be
formidable opponents.
Tannadice Manager Craig Levein summarised:
"I'm delighted with the win. Everything went to plan.
We dominated the game, and I could praise the entire
team."
Crestfallen Aberdeen Manager Jimmy Calderwood
reflected:
"I was dissapointed at the manner in which we lost. We
defended far too deeply, and conceded goals at
set-pieces. We've let the fans down again."
ABERDEEN Langfield; McNamara (Bus 79), Diamond,
Severin, Considine (Aluko 68); Young, Nicholson,
Walker, Foster; Mackie, Miller
UNUSED SUBS Maguire, Maybury, Soutar
DUNDEE UNITED Zaluska; Flood (Dillon 79), Wilkie,
Dods, Kalvenes; Conway, Gomis, Kerr, Robertson, Hunt;
De Vries
UNUSED SUBS Buaban, Kenneth, Odhiambo, McLean
REFEREE Iain Brines
Attendance 12,000