Date: 17th July 2005
Venue: Tannadice Park, Dundee, 3.00pm kick-off

Score: Dundee United 2
Livingston 1

Attendance: 6302

The little Spaniard scored the opener with a 33rd minute header from a Barry Robson corner but his influence in the game was so much greater.

The 29-year-old was at the centre of almost every threat United carried and was involved when Peter Canero scored United's clincher 14 minutes from time with a low drive from 12 yards out after the former Celtic player's overhead kick had been charged down.

It was deserved win for the home side but who knows where Paul Lambert's men go from here.

The hapless visitors remain rooted to the bottom of the SPL with only one point in seven matches and with no prospect, on this evidence, of any improvement.

It did not augur well for a game between two of the league's struggling sides when Livi midfielder Derek Adams immediately took possession from kick-off and slammed a 50-yard pass straight into the stand.

The first opportunity of the game however, came for the home side in the eighth minute when Fernandez was first to an in-swinging Robson corner from the right only to see his near post head-flick clear the bar.

United seemed to settle from then with the untidy looking Fernandez ironically showing up as the neatest player on the park with some fancy footwork along the front line.

In the 15th minute, after good work by United wide-man Mark Wilson on the right had carved out a chance for Canero, Livi keeper Roddy McKenzie made a good save from the former Leicester player's 14-yard drive.

There was some controversy in the 24th minute when United midfielder Mark Kerr appeared to hold down his Livi counterpart Neil Barrett in a last man situation outside the home penalty area following a through ball from Gabor Vincze but referee Alan Freeland ignored the protests from the visitors.

Minutes later the impressive Fernandez lifted the game out of its mediocrity for a moment when he tried his luck with a 25-yard drive which although accurate enough, was well saved by McKenzie who looked to be in top form

United stepped up the pressure and then McKenzie made an even better save from Mark Wilson's left-footed curling shot from outside the penalty area before Robson's weak effort from 20 yards went meekly wide.

In the 32nd minute McKenzie made another terrific finger tip save from Fernandez's 25-yard free-kick but from the resultant corner the Spaniard headed the home side into a deserved lead.

Robson's in-swinger from the right was again met by Fernandez whose header from eight yards flashed past the despairing Adams on the line who could only help the ball into the net.

United remained on top for the rest of the first half and had won their first corner of the second half after only 20 seconds but this time Robson's curled cross drifted out at the back post.

Soon after, Livingston, without a credible shot on or off target in the first 45 minutes, had at least found the target, United keeper Derek Stillie punching clear Graham Barrett's 30-yard free-kick.

To offer some more hope for the hapless visitors, Adams then sent a drive wide of the target from the edge of the United penalty area but the equaliser still seemed far from imminent.

In the 55th minute, another scintillating Robson corner flashed across the Livingston six-yard box begging for just a touch before it ran out for a goal kick.

Then moments later, in the best move of the match, Mark Kerr was cleverly set up by Fernandez but the United midfielder sent his angled shot from close range into the side netting under pressure from Almondvale full back Scott Boyd.

In the 64th minute Fernandez's perfectly-weighted pass sent Robson through on goal but after missing the target from 12 yards, the United midfielder was strangely booked for simulating a dive after coming into contact with the onrushing McKenzie.

Then Robson skinned Livi substitute Richard Brittain, on earlier for Neil Barrett, inside the visitors' penalty area and sent his shot from 10 yards crashing off the near post before the ball flew to safety.

In the 76th minute the home side eventually sealed a deserved victory with Canero's first goal in a Tangerine shirt.

Fernandez again was involved, his overhead kick appeared to blocked by Boyd's hands but the ball broke to the former Kilmarnock player 12 yard from goal and he wasted no time in driving his right-footed shot past the helpless McKenzie.

In the dying seconds, Livi striker Paul Dalglish highlighted the visitors' problems when he lobbed the ball over the bar from 12 yards with only Stillie to beat.

United: Stillie, Wilson, McCracken, Archibald, Canero, Kerr, Brebner, Miller (McIntyre 82), Robson (Duff 82), Fernandez, Ritchie
Subs not used: McLean, McInnes, Dodds, Kenneth, Robertson

Livingston: McKenzie, Mackay, Strong, Dorado, Adams (Pereira 81), Dalglish, Dair (Scott), Vincze, N Barrett (Brittain), Boyd, G Barrett
Subs not used: Roy, Snodgrass, McPake, Walker

Referee: A Freeland