Dundee United relegated after loss to rivals Dundee

Dundee United's season from hell suffered one final slap in the face as city rivals Dundee grabbed a last-gasp 2-1 win to confirm their relegation from the Ladbrokes Premiership.

The Tannadice outfit were hurled through the top-flight trapdoor when Craig Wighton fired a last-gasp winner after Kosta Gadzhalov had cancelled out Edward Ofere's opener.

It brings an end to the Terrors 20-year run in the top-flight and leaves chairman Stephen Thompson facing a financial nightmare with drastic cost cuttings imminent.

Thirty-three years on from seeing United lift their only league crown at their Dens Park patch, the Dundee faithful mercilessly lapped it up as their team dished out a plate of cold revenge.

The home fans came sporting masks featuring the face of beleaguered United boss Mixu Paatelainen while pranksters also tried to sneak in a Tangerine coffin only to be foiled by police.

Paatelainen was hired in October to fix the mess left behind by Jackie McNamara. But in truth the Finn only made things worse and his future is now in serious doubt.

The side have never been off the bottom of the league since his appointment and of the five players he has signed, only keeper Eiji Kawashima was anywhere to be seen as the game kicked off.

Just to rub salt in the Tangerines painful wounds, Dundee look a side on the up as they started with recent PFA Scotland player of the year candidates Greg Stewart and Kane Hemmings up top.

The Dark Blues looked in the mood from the off but were perhaps a bit too keen as they rushed things in the final third.

Paul McGinn nodded down a Gary Harkins free-kick but there was no takers, while Hemmings had a shot easily gathered by Kawashima.

The Englishman wasted the best of the opening half four minutes before the break as Stewart and Nick Ross combined to put him free in the United box but Hemmings skied his shot.

The tide appeared to have turned after the break as United returned with renewed vigour. They had an appeal for a penalty waved away by Willie Collum when Dundee defender Gadzhalov clashed with Simon Murray in the box. The referee was just as unimpressed at the other end when Darren O'Dea hit the deck after being barged into by Ofere.

The Nigerian got away with that one and to make matters worse for Dundee gave United a shock lead after 54 minutes.

With Paul Hartley's team pushed up, the visitors countered sharply after Stewart lost possession. Blair Spittal and John Rankin linked up before the latter picked out Ofere in the middle to slot home from six yards out.

Ross had to hack a Mark Durnan header off the line while Bain was off his line quickly to deny Ofere a second but United were soon heading down.

From a Harkins corner in the 77th minute, Gadzhalov nodded the ball towards goal and while Hemmings claimed he had got a faint touch i was the Bulgarian's goal.

United sub Chris Erskine could have taken their fight onto next Friday's clash at Inverness but fired over, while tempers flared late on after Stewart clattered into Spittal.

Their fate had already been sealed but Wighton delivered one last blow in stoppage time as he was teed up by a Harkins free-kick, smashing a low drive past Kawashima.

Paatelainen branded his team "too soft" after their fate was sealed.

The Finn told BT Sport: "When you analyse our matches and the goals we concede, the set-piece goals, taking responsibility, making sure my man doesn't do anything, making sure nothing happens in your area, just simply we are not disciplined enough, we are not ruthless enough, we are not hard enough. Too soft.

"Today is a great example. two set-piece goals - that has been the story all the way."

Paatelainen also bemoaned his team's failure to add to their lead.

"I thought we totally had them," he said. "But that's been the story of our time here. We have dominated matches, we have been comfortable, we have taken leads, we have had loads and loads of chances to score. But if you are not good enough to put the ball in the net, you are not good enough.

"We scored a great goal, showed real composure and that's more like it, that's exactly what you need to do in those situations, instead of rushing and panicking."