UNITED RUNNING ON FULL POWER
McKinnon: We have plenty left in the tank
WE keep thinking the Championship team will do it. Then they just run out of steam. Ask Rangers. And Falkirk.
However, as Dundee United look to succeed where only Hamilton — ironically — have before, Ray McKinnon believes he has the hard numbers to make a case for the ‘outsiders’.
In seeking to become the first second-tier team since Accies in 2014 to progress all the way through the Premiership Play-offs — claiming promotion as their reward — the United boss concedes that the past two years have seen a pattern develop.
Rangers looked in good enough nick until they were swept away by Motherwell. Falkirk thought they had given Kilmarnock a test — only to be hammered at Rugby Park.
McKinnon’s men have already played four games in seeing off Morton and the Bairns, but he insists his players retain the fitness and motivation to triumph over another two against the Premiership’s 11th-placed side.
Even if he does concede that top-flight teams will always fancy themselves to prevail over two matches rather than a one-off.
‘They do,’ said the former Raith Rovers boss, whose side welcome Hamilton to Tayside for tomorrow night’s first leg. ‘I think they have in the past, certainly.
‘But looking at my team’s stats? I’m not a big believer in every stat. But, in the second half of every game, our fitness has been incredible.
‘We don’t have any fitness issues — and the desire is definitely there. If you’ve got your fitness and desire, you have a chance. We won’t have any problems on that side at all. We’re looking good.
‘Blair Spittal’s stats are through the roof, Simon Murray’s stats are through the roof, Willo Flood’s stats are through the roof — both in terms of distance covered and performance. That’s huge for me right now. Massive.’
On top of the kilometres covered, McKinnon (right) can also point to one other stat as reason to be cheerful: just one Championship loss at home all season. ‘It is great to have a strong home record,’ he said. ‘And, if we can keep that intact, we give ourselves a chance. ‘I do believe that, if we’re still in the tie, all the pressure shifts to the home team in the second leg. ‘There is an expectation that they will stay up. There is an expectation they will win because they’re at home. ‘We have to make sure we’re still bang in this tie going into Sunday’s game. That gives us a great chance.’ The meeting of United and Hamilton brings with it a couple of interesting sub-plots. Tony Andreu, on loan at Tannadice from Norwich, famously scored a lastgasp aggregate equaliser a penalty in the shoot-out as Accies beat Hibs in the very first of these play-offs three years ago.
And former Rangers winger David Templeton, who signed for Hamilton as a free agent in March, looked close to joining United just a few weeks ago.
McKinnon said: ‘Yeah, Temps was here for a bit, training. I’m delighted for him. He’s a friend of Cammy Bell’s and he came in just to get some training.
‘He was overweight, there’s no doubt about that, and I think the travelling was hard. It was easier for him to go somewhere local for him to get his weight down.
‘He’s obviously done it and he’s a real player, a good player when he’s fit. We have to keep an eye on him.
‘For Tony Andreu, is it just written? I don’t know. Up against his old club — and he’s due a goal. Seriously, he’s definitely due one. Maybe he’s going to pop up in the next two games with a really important one.
‘I think it’s more the boys who have been speaking about it with Tony. All these things add to it, don’t they? And he is a matchwinner. He’s got 20 goals this season and helped us win a lot of matches. Here’s hoping he’s got at least one more in him for the play-offs.’
McKinnon travelled north to watch Inverness Caley Thistle instead of Accies last weekend, only to see the Highlanders automatically relegated, but denied that was any sign of disrespect to Martin Canning’s men.
The United boss, who sent his staff to see Hamilton thump Dundee and secure their play-off spot, retorted: ‘Who said I was showing disrespect to Hamilton by going up there? I had watched them the last two weeks and we watched them again last week, so we have had them well covered.’
Much of the good mood at United is directed at striker Murray, who is out of contract in a matter of days — and potentially off to Hibs. McKinnon, who ducked questions about precisely what will happen, admitted: ‘I never knew anything about it (the Hibs interest) until I walked in here today. So it’s all news to me.’