Mellon: St Mirren will harness Hampden heartbreak

DUNDEE UNITED boss Micky Mellon does not expect St Mirren to be suffering a Hampden hangover at Tannadice tonight.

The Paisley side were beaten by Livingston in the Betfred Cup semi-final at the national stadium on Sunday.

Jim Goodwin is now preparing his Buddies squad for the Scottish Premiership match against a United side who had a free weekend.

Asked if the break could work in his team’s favour, Mellon said: “It will if we go out there and attack the game and St Mirren turn up feeling sorry for themselves, but I don’t expect that to happen.

“We have to be the best version of ourselves all the time, we really do, and that’s what we will concentrate on.

“I never lose my focus on that and I can’t start expecting people to turn up here and not be at it.

“We will expect St Mirren to be at it and we know we definitely have to be and I believe it will give us a good opportunity to get a result.”

Meanwhile Paul McMullan has made the move from Dundee United to Dundee immediately.

The winger agreed a pre-contract deal with United’s neighbours earlier this month and found himself out of the firstteam reckoning at Tannadice.

The 24-year-old former Celtic youth player has now completed a loan deal for the rest of the season to take him through to his summer transfer.

Elsewhere, St Mirren boss Jim Goodwin has challenged his players to finish the season in the top six.

Victory tonight would put them two points off sixth placed United with three games in hand and give them a major platform to push for a top half finish.

“As you can imagine the boys were feeling a little bit low on Monday but I’m glad to say they are back to where we want them to be,” Goodwin admitted.

“The top six is our ambition. I am putting ourselves under pressure by mentioning it because it would be very easy to come on here and talk about how staying in the Premiership is what we need to do as a club.”