Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
United faithful to march on capital
A TANGERINE army will descend on the capital tomorrow as Dundee United aim to reclaim top spot in the Championship.
Such has been the demand from Arabs to be at their team’s Easter Road clash with league leaders Hibs, United have had to ask for a third allocation of tickets.
That means close on 2,500 away fans could be backing Ray McKinnon’s team — almost unheard of for a Friday night Championship fixture.
United were initially handed 1,000 briefs for the biggest game in the second tier so far this season but they were snapped up before Christmas.
That led to another 900 tickets heading up from Edinburgh. Now they’ve all gone, so a final batch of 644 has been sent.
They’ve also been selling fast, though some are still available from the club shop at Tannadice.
Given the time of year, an away trip to Dumbarton last week and another looming in the Scottish Cup at Ross County later this month, it’s been seen as a fantastic effort by the fans.
With crowds of over 7,000 regularly turning up for home games, several times already this season the manager has highlighted the contribution the support has made to his team’s position just a point behind tomorrow’s opponents in the promotion race.
Today his concentration was on finishing off his preparations for tomorrow night.
That included fitness checks for injured pair Tony Andreu and Lewis Toshney. Andreu missed last weekend’s defeat at Dumbarton because of a rib injury and Toshney a broken toe.
Ray is hopeful both will be involved but it could be a last-minute decision with them.
Meanwhile, former United and Hibs man Scott Allan is set to be back at Celtic via his loan spell in England at Rotherham being cut short.
With no prospect of a game at Parkhead, the former Scotland U/21 had headed south on what was supposed to be a season-long deal back in August.
At Rotherham he teamed up with his old Easter Road boss Alan Stubbs but the gaffer was quickly sacked and now new boss Paul Warne has admitted Allan is not in his plans.
The one-time Tannadice kid has only made eight starts since he switched from Hibs to Celtic 18-months ago.