Dundee United's young ones came through their fiery baptism in Romania yesterday to reach the third round of the UEFA Cup. a defence which included only one experienced player - Maurice Malpas, restricted Craiova to just one goal.

That ensured there would be no horror show deep in Dracula country for the Scots who qualified 3-1 on aggregate. United's first half performance was in the best traditions of a club that has blazed a trail acress Europe in the last twenty years. John clark, replacement for injured skipper Paul Hegarty became an immovable object at the heart of the defence. Countless times he made interceptions that restricted the Romanians to only an occasional glimpse at goal.

Beside him Dave Beaumont did well despite the handicap of an early booking. And with Malpas coaxing and calming these two as well as Gary McGinnis, United were in command. Paul Sturrock, later injured and replaced by Kevin Gallacher, ran tirelessly up front with the backing of Eamonn Bannon, who had his best european game for the club. United made the better chances and could easily have put the tie well out of Craiova's reach. but they did enough to be able to afford the two second half errors that threatened their progress.

The goal came in 58 minutes. Clark and McGinnis hesitated as Craiova attacked on the left. Georgi Bita stepped between them, ran inside and got round Beaumont before shooting. Billy Thomson, whose handling throughout was superb, touched the ball, but could not prevent it looping over him into the goal. Another error in 70 minutes put United under pressure again. McGinnis hit a back pass straight to Georgi Popescu but the alert Thomson came out, spread himself and saved. Scares like this would have been so unnecessary if united had taken just one of the clear chances before the interval.

Sturrock set up the first with a cutback after only two minutes but Bannon's shot was poor. Then Sturrock took advantage of a mistake by Ungureanu and saw his lob cleared off the line by Rada. The danger was still looming, Bannon shot just wide. The closest United came before half time was when Bannon hit the bar with a header from Sturrock's free kick. After those second half scares, Tommy Coyne had the chance to gain United a draw in the dying seconds, but he shot over. There were three bookings, Beaumont for a foul on Cirtu, Bannon in an off the ball incident with Rada and Rada for a foul on Ralph Milne.

Univesitae Craiova: Racolta, Negrila, Sandoi, Ungureanu, A. Popescu, Rada, Bicu, Bita, Geolgau, G. Popescu, Cirtu Substitutes: Sinescu, BicaIrimescu, Cioroianu, Stanescu

Dundee United: W. Thomson, Malpas, McGinnes, Beaumont, Clark, McInally, Bowman, Milne, Bannon, Sturrock, Redford Substitutes: S.Thomson, Sulley, Gallacher, Coyne, Holt

Ref: A. Delmer (France)

Attendance: 45,000