DUNDEE United profited from some calamitous Aberdeen defending to go nine games unbeaten and retain third place in the league. The visitors partly atoned for two early howlers with a strong second-half fightback, but United were good for their victory. Aberdeen have not won at Tannadice since Craig Levein took the helm at United. He said: "We could have had the game finished in the first-half. Aberdeen had nothing to lose after that and they had us on the back foot. We had to defend resolutely but, having said that, the best chances of the game were missed by us."

Jimmy Calderwood began his post-mortem of Aberdeen's abysmal rearguard display with an apology. "Yet again – sorry to be boring – we shoot ourselves in the foot. We took chances when experienced defenders should be clearing their lines. We thought we had eradicated that but it's come back again today and it's haunting us. The league is hard enough – and we've given ourselves a mountain to climb. You can't give good teams a start like that."

Aberdeen did everything they could to give United the upper hand. With barely 15 minutes gone the visitors were two down. It was their own fault. It wasn't so much bad defending as non-defending.

Firstly, Sean Dillon sought Morgaro Gomis in the Aberdeen box. Scott Severin should have dealt with the danger but didn't. Gomis clipped the ball in to Francisco Sandaza and, largely because of Zander Diamond's dilly-dallying, the big striker managed to poke it into the net.

A case of muddle-headed Dons defenders playing a game of double jeopardy. Several minutes later and Aberdeen were at it again. The defending wasn't quite as bad but it wasn't good. Paul Dixon fired in his cross from the left. Sandaza took a swipe at it but missed. Warren Feeney was on hand to roll a finish into the net from close range. Where were the Aberdeen defenders? They were in the box but they weren't doing much.

It took them half-an-hour to get a shot on goal. Sone Aluko teed up Jeffrey de Visscher but the Dutchman sliced a wild effort off target.

Aberdeen got a grip in the second-half and it was United's turn to demonstrate their defensive qualities. The Dons used width, whipping balls into the box but the United back men were on top.

Darren Mackie flashed a header wide and then a Lee Miller header was tipped over brilliantly by Lukasz Zaluska. The goalie could not prevent Aberdeen from eventually pulling one back, though, and it was the combination of Miller and Mackie. The former set up the latter who buried a fantastic header into the corner of the net. Aberdeen were alive and making up for their earlier mistakes.

Aberdeen thought they had equalised near the end when Miller's header was saved by Zaluska and Mackie converted the follow up but was flagged offside.

MAN OF THE MATCH

There were several contenders for Dundee United but Scott Robertson again caught the eye in central midfield with his display of controlled aggression and crisp passing. He was ably supported by the likes of Morgaro Gomis.

QUICK FACT

Since Craig Levein took over as manager of Dundee United, Aberdeen have not won at Tannadice. There's always next time.

TALKING POINT

United's strong form and Aberdeen's recovery of form meant there were great hopes for this game. They didn't disappoint. The 'New Firm' fixture is delivering a lot these days and long may it continue.