Goodwin 'very pleased' with Dundee Utd squad as Ferry impacts cup tie

Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin is “very, very pleased” with his squad after what he described as another “rebuild” this summer.

United defeated Arbroath 3-0 at Tannadice on Saturday to move on to six points out of nine in Premier Sports Cup Group B. They have still to play visitors Spartans, on Tuesday (19:45 BST).

“It’s still very early days for this group,” Goodwin told club media.

“Every summer transfer window that we’ve gone into has been a rebuild.

“We had 14 new faces coming in last season. We’ve already added nine this season. It takes a lot of time on the training ground for the message to get through to the players.

“I’m definitely seeing positive progress in the training sessions that we’re doing.

“I’m very, very pleased with the squad up to now.”

Will Ferry, who has been linked with a move away from United, played his first 62 minutes of the season against Arbroath, with Zac Sapsford, Idjessi Metsoko and Metsoko’s replacement Lachlan Rose scoring the goals.

“Will Ferry, beginning of the second half, played a couple of really good balls into the channel for Metsoko and Sapsford to chase down,” added Goodwin.

“The Arbroath defence naturally drop that little bit deeper and then we manage to exploit the space in front of their back four.

“The tempo and the intensity in the second 45 was a lot better.”