Dundee United moved up to third in the Scottish Premiership and heaped major pressure on Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin with a 2-0 win over the Dons at Tannadice.
Goals either side of half-time from Ivan Dolcek and Bert Esselink left Aberdeen rooted to the bottom of the table without a goal in five matches.
Thelin had demanded his side perform the fundamentals of football better after Saturday’s League Cup defeat by Motherwell but they were ultimately undone by two aerial balls and could have conceded more as United moved above Hibernian in the table.
Ivan Dolcek put Dundee United ahead at Tannadice Park
Stuart Armstrong hit the bar for the visitors and Jesper Karlsson forced two saves but there was no sustained threat from Thelin’s side as they suffered a sixth defeat in nine matches this season.
Aberdeen have now won just five of their last 32 league games and Thelin might well have run out of credit with the Dons board following the club’s Scottish Cup triumph in May. The United fans certainly thought so as they chanted “sacked in the morning”.
Aberdeen have made their worst start to a season in 26 years
The Aberdeen fans filled the ‘Shed’ end at Tannadice and gave their team major backing for the first half while latching on to brief signs of a resurgence in the second period.
But some fans vented their anger after the break and the Aberdeen board will likely be heading into crisis talks ahead of Saturday’s trip to Motherwell.
Thelin made three changes in midfield with captain Graeme Shinnie among those dropping to the bench but United started on the front foot and Will Ferry was close to converting Zac Sapsford’s driven ball across the face of goal.
Karlsson sent a free header wide and forced a save but most of the first-half pressure was at the other end. Dimitar Mitov saved well from Sapsford’s deflected effort and Esselink headed wide from a corner.
Mitov saved a one-on-one from Dolcek after Sapsford did brilliantly to set his strike partner up on the break, although the Australian was handed a yellow card and penalised for a foul on Sivert Nilsen after referee Steven McLean delayed his decision.
The opener came in the 45th minute as Dolcek fired his fifth goal of the Premiership season into the bottom corner from 18 yards after a header fell into his path.
Dolcek has scored five goals in five league games since joining in the summer
Nicolas Milanovic curled wide as Aberdeen attempted to fight back in the second half but they were two down inside five minutes when the unmarked Esselink headed home from six yards after Vicko Sevelj had flicked on a corner.
The game threatened to spiral further out of Aberdeen’s reach. Mitov parried well from Dolcek, Krisztian Keresztes fired into the side net from 20 yards, several blocks prevented United from hitting the target in a spell of sustained pressure and Sevelj shot just wide from long range.
There were signs of a rally as Armstrong hit the crossbar from 25 yards and Yevhenii Kucherenko denied Karlsson with his feet from the rebound.
But Aberdeen could not seriously threaten to break their Premiership duck again and Thelin and his players stood and surveyed the scene of a half-empty away stand largely displaying their anger after the final whistle.
Thelin: We have nothing to lose
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Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin speaks about his future at the club following their 2-0 defeat at Dundee Utd
Following the defeat, Thelin claimed they cannot slump any lower and told his players they now have “nothing to lose” when they travel to Motherwell on Saturday, seven days after being knocked out of the Premier Sports Cup by the Steelmen.
After facing the anger of the visiting fans after the game, Thelin said: “We feel the same, we feel anger, we feel frustration. But the only way to fix this is to step up and do much, much, much better on Saturday.
“You can’t hide. Towards the end some players were stepping out and showing more. We start creating more but in the beginning we were quite stiff as a team.
“You see Stuart Armstrong, he plays with experience, he wants the ball. When he misses a pass he takes the ball again and finds his composure as a player.
“On Saturday we have nothing to lose, we have everything to win and we have to have this feeling as a team. Because right now we are playing a little bit too stiff because of the pressure around us.
“Now we are last in the table, we have one point, zero goals, so you have nothing to lose. You have to step out on the pitch and play much, much more without this tension.
“The fans, we don’t live up to expectations right now, so we’re already there, rock bottom. The only thing we can do is do better, so we can’t go deeper now, we have to go better and that’s why you can hopefully get this tension out from your body.”
On the fans’ reaction, he added: “When you see the emotions, you see the anger, you see the frustration, of course it hurts you.
“But the only thing to give something back is to do a better performance. As a manager and as a team, our job is to put a smile on the faces of the fans.”
Goodwin praises ‘great resilience’
Jim Goodwin’s Dundee United are up to third in the Scottish Premiership
United manager Jim Goodwin faced that same anger two and a half years ago before being sacked by the Dons and he admitted he had feared his former club’s fortunes would turn at Tannadice.
“I know what the man is going through and I sympathise with any manager in that situation,” he said.
“We were all talking about Hibs and David Gray last year when they were bottom. David found a way to get a tune out of the team.
“Aberdeen have invested well, they spent a fortune in the summer, and that’s why I was a wee bit nervous coming into this game because the run can’t continue with the quality they have.
“We were on a bit of a hiding to nothing but I’m sure Jimmy will respect my concern isn’t Aberdeen.”
Goodwin, whose side moved up to third, added: “Consistency in the 11 was important but this was probably the most comfortable we’ve felt for a number of weeks.
“The last 10 minutes we get deeper and nervy naturally, Aberdeen threw every attacking option at us, but the guys showed great resilience.”