Dundee United survived an early red card to book a place in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Spartans at Tannadice.
A poor attendance of 4,298 on a freezing night on Tayside stripped the game of real cup-tie atmosphere but there was drama in the 12th minute when United defender Iurie Iovu was sent off by referee Grant Irvine after 12 minutes for a bruising bodycheck on Cameron Russell.
The Scottish League Two leaders could not immediately take advantage and in the 31st minute Terrors’ captain Ross Graham headed in from a Will Ferry corner to get his name on the scoresheet for the third successive game.
Attacker Amar Fatah added a second in the 55th minute before second-half substitute Mark Stowe reduced the deficit in the 78th minute with a deflected shot, leaving Jim Goodwin’s men battling to keep their lead which they did rather uncomfortably to clinch a last-eight tie at fellow Premiership club Falkirk.
The home side went into the game on the back of a morale-boosting 3-2 win away to the Bairns at the weekend, which followed four straight losses in the league.
However, the United boss, who suffered a humiliating Scottish Cup defeat to Darvel when he was Aberdeen boss, made five changes with Vicko Sevelj, Panutche Camara, Fatah, Ivan Dolcek and Max Watters coming in.
The original fixture was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch which was in poor condition in a rather low-key start to the game – until the dismissal.
Iovu seemed shocked to see the colour of the card after taking Russell out about 35 yards from goal and with no VAR in operation, there was no chance of the decision being overturned.
United quickly adapted but Spartans became emboldened although neither could get a clear sight of goal – until defender Graham leapt high at the near post to beat keeper Pat Martin with a header.
Tannadice midfielder Craig Sibbald flashed a shot high over the bar minutes later as the Spartans defence opened up again.
Defender Ayrton Sonkur headed a corner from captain James Craigen just past the far post in the 52nd minute, as the Spartans started the second half with promise.
However, the tie was all but settled when Fatah, the 21-year-old winger on loan from French club Troyes, ran on to a delightful defence-splitting pass from Dolcek to knock the ball past keeper Martin from 16 yards.
The Edinburgh side kept battling away and in the 68th minute United keeper Ashley Maynard-Brewer was forced to save an angled-drive from Craigen with the resultant corner proving fruitless.
However, when Stowe’s curling effort hit Sevelj and looped over the United keeper and landed in the back of the net, it changed the game’s complexion.
The home side found themselves hanging on to their lead and there was a penalty claim ignored when Stowe went to ground inside the United box, while the Terrors missed a couple of opportunities on the break themselves.
