Callum Hendry nods an effort at goalSNS

Motherwell had 13 shots but only three of them were on target

At a glance

  • Dundee United go seven games without a win in the Scottish Premiership, remaining down in eighth place with just three wins all season

  • Motherwell make it seven games unbeaten and move five points behind Celtic, albeit Wilfried Nancy's team have two games in hand

  • After a dismal first-half from both sides, there's chances at either end to win it in the second but neither side proved clinical

Sportscene highlights: Dundee United v Motherwell

13/12/2025

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Andrew Petrie
BBC Sport Scotland

Dundee United's winless run stretched to seven, while Motherwell made it seven games unbeaten, in a largely forgetful Scottish Premiership draw at Tannadice.

In a run of form that United manager Jim Goodwin has called his "toughest period" as Tannadice boss, he would have been pleased with the second-half performance as his side threatened slightly more.

Amar Fatah, who scored a superb goal against Rangers last week, spurned two chances during a spell of United dominance.

At the other end, Motherwell strung some nice phases of play together but struggled to carve out clear-cut opportunities.

The closest either side came was probably from the halfway line, when Craig Sibbald almost caught Motherwell goalkeeper Calum Ward, but it drifted less than a yard wide.

United remain eighth in the table, while Motherwell stay third.

Analysis: Chances at premium as United and Well cancel each other out

We can breeze by the first half, because that's what both sets of players did. Almost nothing to write about, other than a nasty gash to Stephen Welsh's head that forced the on-loan Celtic player off early.

Motherwell rarely clicked, while United were toothless in possession. Surely the second half had to be better?

It was, a bit. There were chances, but none of them had an xG of more than 0.2 which means they were hardly glaring opportunities.

For United, it feels more like a step in the right direction. They've been sleepwalking down the table in the last few weeks and a cynic would argue they still have just one win in their last 11 games.

But they were up against the form team in the country, and largely kept them at bay. Just like the game against Rangers 10 days ago, Goodwin will point to this as a positive.

The manager also pointed to the fact this was their first clean sheet in 11 games. A crumb of comfort, at least.

The possession stats between Dundee United and MotherwellOpta

The possession stats between Dundee United and Motherwell

As for Motherwell, it felt reminiscent of the draw against Falkirk. They were frustrated at times, and it just wasn't working up top.

This is, in fact, the ninth game they've drawn in 17 league games. The positive there is that when they aren't in attack, at least they shut up at the back - this was their fifth clean sheet in a row.

And that was after losing Welsh early on to a nasty head knock, when the on-loan Celtic defender headered his team-mate Elliot Watt instead of the ball.

They enjoyed almost 70% possession, had 585 passes, of which 471 were accurate. Those are stats well above the league average, but they still created very little of note and it's not the first time this season that problem has raised its ugly head.

What they said

Dundee United boss Jim Goodwin tells BBC Sportsound: "It wasn't a particularly great game. I don't suppose the guys in the Sportscene studio will have too many highlights to pull from.

"From our own perspective, we had a really disappointing performance last weekend in Paisley. The structure of the team today was excellent, the shape was really good.

"It wasn't as if Motherwell had lots of possession. My goalkeeper hasn't had a great deal to do, albeit the Motherwell keeper hasn't either.

"We had a couple of half chances and we just didn't get the break of the ball. The pleasing aspect of it is the clean sheet. That's a good foundation to build from."

Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou tells BBC Sportsound: "We never really peaked today in our performance. Defensively, solid again.

"We didn't really find our speed in the game enough. We didn't have enough moments in the game where we accelerated the game that we wanted.

"It got better in the second half. We tried to push up the tempo a little bit but we just lacked the quality in the final third in the decisive moments. There were a few, not enough and not big ones.

"It's a clean sheet away and we'll take another point."

What's next?

Dundee United host Celtic on Wednesday night at Tannadice (20:00 GMT), while Motherwell welcome Dundee next Saturday (15:00).

Player of the match

A. Fatah
7.00
17 A. Fatah
7.00
25 D. Richards
6.84
21 L. Stephenson
6.22
14 C. Sibbald
6.12
6 R. Graham
6.06
9 Z. Sapsford
6.05
19 I. Dolček
5.90
3 B. Esselink
5.76
77 N. Möller
5.67
2 R. Strain
5.35
11 W. Ferry
5.33
36 M. Watters
5.27
4 I. Iovu
5.12
5 V. Ševelj
4.70
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