Nightmare week continues for Dundee United in 4-1 defeat to Hearts

Dundee United’s nightmare week has continued with a 4-1 defeat to Hearts at Tynecastle that means they have conceded 11 goals in their last two games.

Goals from Lawrence Shankland, Barrie McKay, Jorge Grant and Josh Ginnelly helped Robbie Neilson’s men to the victory that keeps their unbeaten start to the season intact and only Martin Boyle’s late equaliser in last week’s Edinburgh Derby denying them a perfect start.

The visitors meanwhile were looking to shake off any hangover still lingering from their 7-0 thrashing in the Netherlands on Thursday.

But a late consolation goal from a Steven Fletcher penalty was all they had to show from a difficult Sunday afternoon in Gorgie.

United continued where they left off in Alkmaar when former United hitman Shankland put the home side 1-0 up within the first minute of the game.

The Edinburgh side will be embarking on their own European adventure this week when they travel to play Zurich in the first leg of their Europa League qualifier on Thursday.

Robbie Neilson knows they will be playing group stage football no matter the result against the Swiss side with the Conference League awaiting the losers.

The home side continued to dominate possession for most of the first 45 and looked good for their lead, although they did have Craig Gordon to thank for keeping out a rare shot on target from United.

The second half started in pretty much the same manner as the first with McKay this time scoring around two minutes after the restart to make it 2-0 to Hearts.

The winger has started the season on fire and has been receiving rave reviews for his performances in the opening three games.

Grant then increased the misery for United when he reacted first to a rebounded shot from Michael Smith on the hour mark.

It was the 27-year-old’s first goal for Hearts since joining from Peterborough in the summer.

Jack Ross’s men were then thrown a lifeline when they were awarded a penalty with 20 minutes to go and Steven Fletcher smashed it past former international team mate Gordon to make it 3-1.

But it was only a brief moment of hope as Hearts saw the game out again with the help of Gordon who saved a late effort from Fletcher in injury time.

Ginnelly then rubbed salt in the United wounds in the 95th minute when he scored to make it 4-1 with the last kick of the game.