Football: Luggy's ready to axe his United failures advice; Dundee Utd 2 Motherwell 2.

PAUL Sturrock is ready to follow Alex Ferguson's advice in a bid to cure the problems he says have plagued Tannadice for years.

The Dundee United boss will call time on the players who don't have the desire to match their talents after an Owen Coyle double earned 10- man Motherwell a share of the spoils on Tayside.

Sturrock said: "I've been in charge for nine games now and from what I can see there are two main problems.

"The first is hunger. Two teams played out there and when both had 11 players only one team was hungry and it wasn't Dundee United.

"Only when Motherwell went down to 10 men did we show any desire to win the match. That presents me with the second major problem.

"A wise old manager once told me that it's incredibly difficult to change the mentality of a footballer - sometimes you have to change the footballer.

"The players have been told to change their mental approach or be changed themselves."

The wise old manager was Alex Ferguson and it's easy to see why Sturrock relates his sentiments to United - who were terrible in the first half but a different side after the break.

Luggy added: "Some of the play in the second half was excellent which shows the ability of the players we have here. But the mental approach of the players is unacceptable to the club and to the fans."

A victory would have seen United leapfrog City rivals Dundee into fifth spot but it would have been rough justice on Well who were easily the better side until striker Lee McCulloch saw red six minutes from the break.

Blundering ref Mike McCurry sent McCulloch packing following a mid air duel in which he caught Siggi Jonsson on the side of the head with an arm.

The United player wasn't seriously hurt but the referee stunned everyone by dismissing McCulloch for deliberate use of the elbow.

Until then the visitors had run the show with McCulloch's physical presence a constant menace.

His youthful exuberance was the perfect foil for Coyle, and with John Spencer darting around him, it took just four minutes for Well to go in front.

Spencer lobbed the ball into the box where McCulloch's touch left United' Maurice Malpas and Jonsson stranded as Coyle shot home from eight yards.

McCulloch rattled the bar with a header before United keeper Sieb Dykstra prevented the visitors going further ahead on the half hour.

Coyle robbed Malpas on the halfway line before firing a superb diagonal ball to Spencer.

The on-loan Everton man knocked the ball back for Eddie May who set up McCulloch on the right but Dykstra deflected the drive for a corner.

Sturrock changed things around in the second half introducing Joe Miller for the ineffectual Magnus Skoldmark.

Miller and Kjell Olofsson hugged the touchlines as United stretched 10 man Well.

The effect was immediate as Billy Dodds neatly turned Jamie McGowan 10 yards out before dragging a left foot shot past Mikko Caven.

Well restored their lead two minutes later when Coyle nipped in to grab the second after Dykstra failed to hold Ged Brannan's blistering 22- yard free kick.

Jonsson wrapped up the scoring on the hour when he nodded home from eight yards.

Well boss Billy Davies said: "I thought we controlled the game up to the sending off. We passed the ball very well and created lots of chances.

"I was disappointed to lose the goals but we can take the positive things from the game and look to next week.'

There was certainly plenty for Davies to be positive about. John Spencer and Ged Brannan slotted in superbly, with Brannan a massive influence for Well.

Brannan is in the Craig Burley mould, full of probing passes surging forward runs and blistering shooting power.

The pounds 350,000 Man City capture said: "There's no big stars here but there's a great team spirit and the standard of football is a lot better than I expected.

"We were the better side until Lee was sent off. I was right beside the incident. There was no malice in the challenge and he didn't deserve to go. It definitely had a bearing on the result and I think we would have won the game if he'd stayed on.'

But United's Billy Dodds reckons the home side deserved more.

He said: "We never started in the first half but in second half we played well and created lots of chances.

"I felt that if we got our noses in front we would have won but it wasn't to be. We have to work hard to get the consistency to take us up the league.

"We have to show more of a killer instinct to win regularly.'

DUNDEE UTD: Dykstra, Malpas, Jonsson, Patterson, Olofsson, Zetterlund, Easton, Mathie, Dodds, Skoldmark (Miller 47), Pascual.

MOTHERWELL: Kaven, May (Craigen 64), McMillan, McGowan, Brannan, Valakari, Coyle (Adams 68), McCulloch, Doesburg, Teale, Spencer (Nevin 64).

MAN OF THE MATCH: Ged Brannan