Dundee United keeper Yevhenii Kucherenko ‘showed great character’ after error

Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin praised goalkeeper Yevhenii Kucherenko for bouncing back from his embarrassing own goal.

The Ukrainian made a mess of his attempt to punch Jamie McGrath’s corner clear after the ball bounced off his back and rolled into the net in Saturday’s entertaining 3-3 draw with Hibernian.

Kucherenko and opposite number Jordan Smith were both busy in a game that saw 21 shots on target registered by both teams.

And Goodwin watched his goalkeeper pull off a series of fine saves following his error.

Goodwin said: “Of course you’ll be disappointed with the first goal, ultimately as a goalkeeper that’s the position that you play in the team.

“When you make a mistake nine times out of 10 it ends up in the back of your net.

“But I thought he showed great character to put that behind him and make a good save not long after it.

“He’s made four or five really good saves in the game. He’s a terrific goalkeeper, he’s had a great start to his Dundee United career.

“Unfortunately, a mistake has cost us but we’re certainly not pointing fingers.

“That’s not the culture that we have within our dressing room. We don’t point fingers and blame anybody.

“We’re all in this together and every one of us in there, including myself, will make mistakes between now and the end of the season.”

The major talking point in the game was the 86th-minute penalty that saw Jamie McGrath earn a point for Hibs.

Referee Dan MacFarlane was asked to review footage by VAR after the ball appeared to strike Vicko Sevelj’s arm from Kieron Bowie’s acrobatic effort.

It seemed harsh on the midfielder, who was also red carded, but Hibs manager David Gray felt it was the right call after his team were wrongly denied a penalty in similar circumstances against St Mirren in their previous outing.

Gray said: “It’s the same as the previous one, if they (the Scottish FA) have come out and said the one against St Mirren is a penalty then that one is as well.

“It’s mad within two games you play it’s a very similar situation that might never happen again all season.

“From that point on they got the red card and we’re on the ascendancy.

“It was probably a really good game for the neutral but from our point of view we can be miles better.”