The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Form book suggests Pars have advantage
Unpredictable United will look to hoodoo for hope in play-offs
Only two points separated Dundee United and Dunfermline in the Championship but Courier sports editor Eric Nicolson delved a bit deeper to see where there is encouragement for the two sides ahead of their play-off matches. Head-to-heads
Look away now Pars fans. Dunfermline have failed to win any of their last 13 games against United. That miserable run includes 10 defeats and goes all the way back to October of 2011.
Of all those fixtures, the most harrowing one is surely Cammy Bell’s hat-trick of penalty saves last season. A bit more positivity can be found in the last two matches though, both in 2018, which ended up drawn.
If you’re Dunfermline-minded, you’ll be clinging on to the belief that this hoodoo has to end at some stage. United followers will hope that if their team can get in front, thoughts of ‘here we go again’ will start to creep in.
Form
Both won their last league game, which can’t be a bad thing. The Pars had to get at least a point to make the play-offs and Dumbarton posed little or no threat in the end.
There was nothing on the line for United against Livingston apart from home advantage in the second leg on Friday night, if you think that matters.
Go further back, however, and you have to say that Dunfermline’s momentum is more significant. Since losing to St Mirren on March 10 Allan Johnston’s men have shown title-winning form.
It was needed because they were seven games winless and drifting out of play-off contention before then. Seven wins and three draws has been extremely impressive stuff.
What to make of United in that time? That’s a topic all of its own. This is a side that has made a habit of defying form and logic – both for good and bad.
The loss at Dumbarton was a shock – even by United’s standards – after they had beaten the same side comfortably a few days earlier.
The response – a win to deny St Mirren the title and two victories to follow – had second place back within their sights, only for them to get thrashed at Queen of the South.
United remain the league’s great unpredictables so Dunfermline’s form should be viewed as more reliable.
Knock-out football
The play-offs are always talked about as a mini-cup so are either of these sides knock-out specialists? No is the answer.
You would probably edge towards Dunfermline purely because they knocked Hearts out of the Betfred Cup at the group stage. Mind you, they
followed it up with a 6-0 defeat at Ibrox.
United exited at the same round – to Dundee – but they had a penalty shoot-out victory over their city rivals in their group.
The Pars went out of the Irn Bru Cup to Falkirk while it was a team of United kids who were defeated by Irish side Crusaders.
The Scottish Cup was a bigger disappointment to Dunfermline than United.
Nobody expected an upset when Csaba Laszlo took his team to Pittodrie but losing at home to an opponent in your own league (Morton) is always a huge anti-climax for a club like the East End Park one
Crowds
Dunfermline’s last-day home attendance was 500 bigger than United’s but there was more at stake for them.
You wouldn’t think there would be much difference between the size of the crowds at East End and Tannadice, and both sets of fans give excellent backing to their players on occasions such as these.
You can make a case for it being an advantage to play at home first and the same for being away first.
Pressure
Just making the play-offs represents a decent season for Dunfermline. Not so United.
A takeover of the club is understood to be on the cards but there is no getting away from the financial consequences of a third season in the lower leagues for the Tangerines.
You can’t imagine the Pars’ money men will have budgeted to go up. Pressure and motivation are two sides of the one coin, however.
Yes, United need to win more, but there is no telling whether that will inspire or inhibit them.
And from a Fife point of view, having less to lose may free them up to play their best football or take the edge off them.
Given a choice, I’d probably rather not be the player with the ‘big club’ pressure on his shoulders.
Fatigue
This time last year Morton got off to a fast start against United but visibly wilted in the second half of the first leg at Cappielow and even more so at Tannadice.
I wouldn’t expect anything similar to happen in this contest. United looked knackered at Palmerston a couple of weekends ago but they were coming to the end of a gruelling Saturday-tuesday run.
Fitness – or freshness – won’t be a significant factor at this stage. It probably will be for the winner if they get to the final, mind you.
enicolson@thecourier.co.uk