Chris Wilder's thoughts on United's opening game in Scotland
United opened their pre-season tour of Scotland with a 1-1 draw at Alloa Athletic. The U’s took an early lead through Deane Smalley, but the home side equalized in the final minute to leave United manager Chris Wilder slightly disappointed, although, as he told Yellow Player, he was pleased with the overall performance:
“We came up here to test ourselves, they had a lot of the ball and a lot of it was in front of us but the players have got a hell of a lot out of that tonight.”
Alloa’s Recreation Park features an artificial surface, but as Wilder explained, this didn’t pose any problems for United:
“I should imagine that training on it and playing on it every week they are more used to the surface and it helps but I’ve not got a problem with it. Like I said we had a good start and got a few more chances after that; I don’t think Ryan’s had a hell of a lot to do.”
The U’s manager was particularly pleased with the way the team is shaping up and the new players are fitting in. He told us:
“There are some good partnerships building. I thought the back four were excellent. It’s disappointing because we got done by one big ball really, other than that I thought we did well all night as it’s a different system that we played against. They [Alloa] were skillful, technical players and they moved the ball about well but we had to keep our shape, discipline and concentration and we did that, and as I said just a touch disappointed because we do want to get into winning habits and consistently do the right things.”
Hear the full interview in Yellow Player, including Chris Wilder’s thoughts on the likely team for Saturday’s game at Berwick Rangers.