If you want a dose of depression, someone said, catch a bus to Tannadice. The days are long gone when a visit to this stadium caused the blood to pop and simmer and yesterday Dundee United toiled through one more chapter in seeking to restore themselves. It is actually getting hard to remember when United last scored. Everything, though, shouldn’t be said to be depressed around Alex Smith’s team. For one thing, United yesterday had a fighting spirit about them, which might not avail them at Parkhead or Ibrox but is at least the foundation of any team’s revival.

It was also noticeable, miraculously, how a small multitude of United’s Arab Army are sticking by the team, cheering them at the finish despite their team having been given a second half runaround by St Mirren. The gods are piling misery upon the home team, even when they least expect it. Things are bad enough for United without having to play for an hour with 10 men but this was their fate once Stephen Wright had been red-carded for recklessly pulling down Jens Paeslack from behind. Poor Wright, already victimised enough in his ravaged career, pondered his stupidity before painfully heading for the tunnel. Tom Hendrie’s St Mirren remain a side of tricks and toughness. As this game wore on they astutely attacked United, having a Jose Quitongo goal disallowed after 62 minutes and causing a few other palpitations around the United box. Hendrie deserves real credit for gouging out some Premier League worth from an old horse like Tommy Turner, and credit more for his clever use of Quitongo.

The little Angolan squirms this way and that for St Mirren, winning them scores of free-kicks and triggering apoplexy among defenders. A win, a loss or a draw, come rain or shine, these remain baffling times at Tannadice. This stadium, which in the past has crackled with the atmosphere of great nights, was as dreary yesterday as if a long, drab season had just finished. United’s flaming tangerine shirt is currently in the possession of a motley gathering of migrants. There are French, Cameroonians, Argentines and Hondurans around Tannadice, plus a Greek and a Senegalan, most of whom still seem an utter mystery to the Scottish public. What happened to the old Davie Dodds painter-and-decorator days? This frantic gathering of players from around the globe only scratches at the surface of United’s current plight. The club seems the prime victim of the seismic shift in the economics of football, where United’s former glories are long since forgotten and Jim McLean and his cohorts are forced to scavenge world-wide for cheaper talents who offer fleeting promises of progress. It certainly doesn’t do to dwell too long on McLean getting on the phone to his manager to deliver the news of the two Cameroonians who played here. "Hoi, Alex, eh think eh’ve discovered two players for oor team ... Mvondo Atangana and Alphonse Tchami. D’ye ken?"

In these impoverished times, perversely, McLean seems to have delved into his wisdom to bring Smith to manage the club. It seems perverse because, since Smith arrived, United have yet to win any of the five league games he has presided over, and have now gone four full games in which they have yet to score from open play - not even when given a half-hour of extra time in the CIS Cup against Airdrie recently. There is a deeper issue at stake here, though, than a few frantic weeks around the club, and Smith will at least have a calm head when dealing with United’s malaise. He can also, contrary to his avuncular image, be quietly ruthless in his decisions, as we witnessed here with one of these beguiling United imports. Up they traipsed to Tannadice to take in this new all-Cameroonian United attack - but it lasted less than 36 minutes. It is hard enough to get your tongue around the names of Tchami and Atangana and they both seemed to find it harder to bash the ball into the net. Poor Tchami, in particular, perpetrated some dreadful sclaffs in front of goal, blasting one effort high to the back of United’s deserted stand from 12 yards. It took Smith no longer than half an hour to have decided he’d had enough of this and haul the striker off. It wasn’t all farce and gloom, though, for United. Atangana genuinely had a spritely aggression about him, running eagerly at St Mirren with the ball bobbling between his feet.

In one attack in the second period, Atangana took on the entire visiting defence before turning and seeing his shot cannon off a defender. United, though, couldn’t conjure up the same openings as St Mirren. Hendrie will once again be claiming, with some justification, that his side deserved to win. Quitongo’s offside "goal" at best seemed a marginal decision, but that apart, St Mirren certainly had enough chances to claim the points. The haggard-looking Turner scuffed his shot wide after 75 minutes when it looked far easier to hit the target, and Steven McGarry could have improved his shot moments later. This game, in fact, had a few scuffs and skids about it.

Dundee United: Combe (7), Leoni (7), De Vos (7), Wright (6), Aljofree (5), Buchan (6), Hannah (5), Fernandez (7), Atangana (7), Thomson (5), Tchami (5) Subs: Gallacher, Easton, Heaney, Davidson, Trialist (7).

Post Match reaction:Dundee United manager Alex Smith was satisfied with his team's result and performance against St Mirren despite failing to end their woeful league record. The Tayside team have not won a home Scottish Premier League game all year and the 0-0 draw also kept them firmly at the bottom of the table. But Smith said: "I'm pleased with the way the team battled and am pleased with the spark they showed. "If we can take that spirit and build on it and we get time to get the team gelling, then we can get away from where we are. "It was a battle and we had to make sure we didn't lose anything, which is what we did. "We worked all week on our defence and we didn't lose goals today. There was no silly error and we showed we can keep a clean sheet if we defend properly." Things seemed to turn in the visitors' favour after 29 minutes when United were reduced to 10 men.

Referee Kenny Clark was left no option but to red-card Stephen Wright when the United defender pulled back Jens Paeslack as the big German went racing clean through on goal. But it was United who took heart from this and for the rest of the game they gave as good as they got. St Mirren failed to capitalise on their extra man and although Jose Quitongo had the ball in the net the goal was quite rightly ruled offside. Smith said: "Funnily enough the sending off helped us - but that's football for you. Up to then we hadn't played. St Mirren had won the battles and they were dictating play. "But the sending off gave us an extra spark, there was a cause there and the crowd reacted to our efforts. All of a sudden it was a case of 10 men being better than 11. "We had a couple of chances - Joachim Fernandez had a great chance and he might have took his time and Mvondo Atangana might have scored after their keeper had saved from Jamie Buchan."

Smith in fact praised his new signing Atangana, who continually posed problems for the visitors and especially in the second half. He said: "Atangana is used to playing up front himself, looking for support from the midfield, rather than playing up with a partner the way we usually do. "In the second half he always seemed to be on the ball more and get more kicks when it was one attacker against three defenders. "It always happens when three mark one, no-one takes responsibility and this allowed him to play in between them."