St Andrews grind their way to welcome win over capital men

St Andrews United returned to winning ways in the East of Scotland First Division by posting a deserved victory over Edinburgh United.

The home team grabbed the first goal of the afternoon following good work from Jake Grady on the right touchline.

Ryan McInnes appeared at the back post to head a lovely cross from Grady into the path of Daryl Falconer and the tall striker gleefully found the net with a cool finish in the twelfth minute.

Edinburgh restored parity moments later when Sean Guiney stabbed the ball past Connor Shaw during a goalmouth scramble.

The United players immediately set about regaining the initiative.

Kyle Wilson and Owen Andrew both teased the visitors’ defence with clever runs before testing goalkeeper Andrew Smith but the resulting corners were wasted.

The key moment of the match came when Andrew was fouled in the box at the end of another weaving run.

The striker promptly dusted himself down prior to slotting the ball past Smith from the spot in the 55th minute but he was also booked for showing dissent in the wake of another foul.

The referee waved a total of ten yellow cards throughout the afternoon plus one red to Edinburgh United’s Robbie Walker.

One of the cards that was merited went to Saints’ substitute Willie Campbell for committing a clever foul to break up a dangerous counter attack.

The home side survived a further scare when Stephen Scott hit the post from a tight angle in the 67th minute.