Dundee United stand tall on their winning return to big stage

If Scottish football really does have an inferiority complex, this Dundee United result may go some distance to healing that defect.

Jack Ross’ players turned in a 90-minute performance that perhaps exceeded any expectation that the United head coach had of his team to stun AZ Alkmaar and take the lead in this Europa Conference League third round qualifier.

Ross had said pre-match that Scottish football is often guilty of talking itself down when it comes to continental action, but United took to the pitch with a confidence and bravado with which the side who finished fifth in last season’s Eredivisie could not cope.

New signings Jamie McGrath and Glenn Middleton linked up for the goal, the latter striking past Hobie Verhulst, which earned United