Csaba wants a piece of turf luck
Laszlo brings players back to warm up at Tannadice
BILLY KING has revealed Csaba Laszlo has brought back the “Friday feeling” in Dundee United’s quest for promotion.
The Tannadice boss ripped up their training schedule by ordering his players to warm up for crucial Championship clashes 24 hours before on their favoured home turf instead of their St Andrews base.
It’s a move King feels has been beneficial as they bid to overhaul leaders St Mirren and seal a top-flight return.
And the winger is relishing today’s return to Tannadice to face Morton after three games on the road.
King said: “We always have our Friday training session at Tannadice now. The lads like it.
“It’s a good idea. Our training pitches in St Andrews are very good but because it’s not used as much the pitch at Tannadice is better. It’s good to get a feel of it on a Friday for obvious reasons.
“It’s just good to get the dimensions of the pitch back in your head when you’re doing things like set-pieces for the game the next day.
“If you’re going to win promotion you have to take care of home games and that’s what we’ve been doing.
“We enjoy playing here at Tannadice – it’s a big pitch that suits our passing game.
“So overall it will be good to be back on home soil when Morton come to our place.”
Laszlo moved to bring Danish striker Thomas Mikkelsen back to Tayside for a second stint and Emil Lyng joined to give greater goal threat that King feels can be pivotal in their promotion push. He added: “We’ve been hit hard by injuries. For a few games you could see that by the number of kids we had on the bench.
“Now we’ve got a bit more experience again. In Thomas and Emil we’ve added a few more options.
“They’re both big lads. With Thomas holding the ball up and Emil coming in from wide they add a different dimension.
“We like to play a passing game. But they give us the option of something different which is always good.
“Morton have given us two hard games this season. We know what to expect – as do Morton from ourselves.
“With our record at Tannadice we are aiming to get the three points. That’s what it’s all about at this stage of the season.”
Morton midfielder Gary Harkins is hoping their Scottish Cup boost can fire the side back into the play-offs picture.
Their last-gasp win against Dunfermline has given the squad a bounce and set up a crack at the last eight against Dumbarton.
Playmaker Harkins would love to continue the cup run but his immediate aim is to trip up promotion pushing United.
He said: “It was a great result last week. The boys have taken a bit of confidence from the win and just want to keep it going.
“It would be brilliant to go far in the Scottish Cup but that’s not the focus right now.
“It will be a tough game against United. We maybe don’t have the same expectations as them but want to finish as high as we can. If we can get to the play-offs then happy days.”