The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Play-offs don’t look daunting for Tangerines star Spittal
Confidence high despite having to settle for third
Dundee United midfielder Blair Spittal has denied that the play-offs look “daunting” after they could only finish third.
The Tangerines missed out on second spot in the Championship on Saturday as they drew away to Morton, while a late goal gave Falkirk victory at Dumbarton.
That ensured the earliest of starts, with the Tannadice team now heading back to Cappielow tomorrow night for the first leg of the quarter-final against the Greenock men.
The Bairns, meanwhile, can sit back, relax and wait until a week tomorrow before facing either United or Morton in the semi-final.
Nevertheless, Spittal, who equalised for United on Saturday after Kudus Oyenuga had given the hosts the lead, isn’t fazed by having to take the long way round.
He said: “I don’t think it’s daunting at all, looking at the play-offs. It was always going to be hard to get through them. I believe we are all ready for it and we knew the state of play.
“We didn’t beat Morton but I thought we were the better team and created plenty of chances, which has been the story for the past few weeks.
“In the first half we dominated the play and had a few opportunities. They got their goal in the second half and we should have done better there.
“I thought that towards the end we were playing a lot better and created numerous chances to win the game. Now it is time to dust ourselves down and get ready for Tuesday.
“Hopefully, we can do enough over the next few weeks to get us back up.”
Let’s get the negative stuff out of the way first.
Finishing third in the Championship has to be considered a disappointment for Dundee United.
Given their budget, squad and stature of the club, the Tangerines probably should have ended up second and also posed more of a threat to champions Hibs.
There are many reasons why they have ended up facing the daunting sixmatch path to the Premiership that starts with the trip back to Cappielow to face Morton tomorrow night.
In no particular order, you could pick the collapse after hitting the top of the league on Christmas Eve; the poor away form that included two defeats at Dumbarton; the inability to take golden chances over the last half-a-dozen games; and the concession of daft goals that turned potential wins into draws or defeats.
They say the league table doesn’t lie and, in United’s case, that is true.
They conceded more goals than any other top-four side, scored eight fewer than Falkirk – and even two fewer than relegation escapees St Mirren – to leave a goal difference of plus eight compared to the Bairns’ plus 18 and Hibs’ plus 34. Now for the positives. United played very well on Saturday and deserved to win the game rather than just draw 1-1. Indeed, with a bit of luck and better finishing, they would have been out of sight.
It turned out their result didn’t matter anyway as Falkirk won across the Clyde against Dumbarton with a late goal but the key thing is that this didn’t have the feel of a bad day about it for United.
Heads did go down right after the final whistle but despondency was quickly replaced by determination.
The Tannadice men have steadied things results-wise and go into the Premiership play-off quarter-final first leg unbeaten in six matches.
That does contrast rather starkly with Morton’s run, with the Greenock men having not won in 10 games now.
Watching United stroke the ball around at Cappielow, you would happily tip them to overcome the Greenock men and Falkirk to reach the play-off final.
If they can keep that up when they return to Renfrewshire tomorrow then they can be sitting pretty going into the home leg on Friday night.
That is a big if but manager Ray McKinnon is backing his players to give it their best shot.
“When you consider the last six games we probably should have won all six,” said the United boss.
“I think over those matches we have created about 30 chances and four or five have come off the bar or post.
“The guys really have the bit between their teeth and I am pleased with their effort and performance. Also, I am pleased with their physical state so it’s all good going into the play-offs.
“Their attitude has been superb and their desire to win the games has been great. If we get a wee bit of luck and keep that performance level up then we will have a right good chance.
“We are not getting the rub of the green just now and I’m not going to be critical of anybody, but what I will say is that if we keep creating chances, sooner or later they will start dropping for us.
“It would be nice if we started getting the breaks in the play-offs, wouldn’t it?
“So we are in a positive frame of mind going into the game on Tuesday.”
After totally dominating the first half without scoring – Thomas Mikkelsen and Tony Andreu both struck woodwork – United were caught by a classic sucker punch as Morton took the lead on 52 minutes.
The ball was swung over by Mark Russell and former Tangerine Kudus Oyenuga sent a looping header beyond the reach of goalkeeper Cammy Bell.
United were back level on 63 minutes and Andreu was the creator, cutting the ball back to an unmarked Blair Spittal to find the net with a shot from 10 yards.
At that stage, Falkirk were drawing with Dumbarton so McKinnon threw everything into trying to get a winner, even pushing defender Mark Durnan up front.
However, word came through that Nathan Austin had scored for the Bairns and it was game over for United as their hopes of finishing second were extinguished.
Still, the heads didn’t stay down for long and the message is that they believe they can get through the play-offs the hard way.
Just to recap, United go to Cappielow tomorrow for the first leg of the quarterfinal before hosting Morton at Tannadice on Friday night.
Get through that and it’s on to the semi-final against Falkirk, with the first leg at home on Tuesday 16 and the away trip on Friday 19.
The play-off final will be played on Thursday 25 and Sunday 28, with Hamilton and Motherwell currently joint favourites to provide the top-flight opposition.