McKinnon staying cool as pressure buildson rivals

Dundee United manager Ray McKinnon was an oasis of calm amid the chaos as his team reached the Premiership final by beating Falkirk,

Roache. writes Ian

The Tangerines won a pulsating semi-final second leg 2-1 – 4-3 on aggregate – thanks to Paul Dixon’s header three minutes from time.

Man-of-the-match Simon Murray had earned them a deserved equaliser on 76 minutes after James Craigen had given the Bairns the lead on 11 minutes.

At the final whistle, there were wild celebrations behind the goal Dixon had scored in, as the players were hugged by delighted supporters.

However, McKinnon was nice and relaxed as he reflected on the mayhem.

He now reckons that either Hamilton or Inverness won’t fancy facing his team in the twolegged decider on Thursday and Sunday.

McKinnon said: “I don’t think they will want to play us because we’re definitely a team in form.

“I think we should have won the last 10 games and we’ve hit form at the right time.

“I don’t have a preference – the pressure is all on them to stay in their league.

“The benefit for us is that both Inverness and Hamilton have to play their strongest teams this weekend, they can’t rest anyone.

“So we will have an extra day of recovery on them.

“The second-half performance was excellent and we never gave up.

“I felt if we got a goal we would go on to win the game because we would get the momentum, so I’m delighted.

“It’s on to next week now but I don’t sense fatigue among the boys.

“We have injuries – there are players carrying knocks – but the character is different class and I don’t think they feel tired.”