The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
United boost
Shankland to ignore talk of transfer
Dundee United striker Lawrence Shankland will leave it to others to speculate about his future.
The player himself has got tunnel vision – “keep scoring” is his only thought.
Shankland’s 25th domestic goal of the season against Hibs will have done nothing to quieten down talk of clubs making a late January bid to lure him away from Tannadice.
But there is certainly no sign of all the transfer rumours affecting his football.
“I’m delighted to score all the time and to get one in the Scottish Cup is great,” said the Scotland international.
“So it’s another positive from Saturday to take in our stride.
“All I’ve got in my mind is to keep scoring and see what I can get.
“I hope I do but it’s not as easy as going out there and scoring every week. I’m just happy to see them going in now and hope to continue that form.”
The draw with a top-six Premiership side has only served to increase confidence in the United camp, both for the cup replay and the remainder of the Championship campaign.
“It was a tough tie at times,” reflected Shankland. “It was a bit end to end, as they always are.
“We expected that, though, with the quality of the opposition we were facing on Saturday and I think we showed we matched them for most of it.
“The first goal came at a good time, just before half-time, to get us level but we probably conceded at the worst time just into the second half.
“However, I thought we reacted well and kept ourselves in the game then big Louis (Appere) came on and produced a bit of magic.
“It was great for him. It was a terrific finish. He did really well when he came on and gave us a bit of a danger off the left-hand side.
“Pete (Pawlett) had done really well up until then, considering he’s just back from injury, but I thought Louis gave us a wee spark and took his goal well.”
Shankland certainly doesn’t feel that there was a significant gap in ability between the two teams on Sunday.
“Not at all,” he said. “Obviously, they’re quality and if you give them space, like we did Boyle at the edge of the box, they’ll punish you.
“You come to expect that but I don’t think there was too much in it that we need to be worried about.
“As long as you keep yourself in the game, you know you’ve got a chance to get back in it and we were able to force a replay.
“We’re just happy to still be in the cup.
It will be a tough tie down at Easter Road but it’s one we’re looking forward to, taking confidence from Saturday.”
There is a league match against Morton to play before thoughts turn to Hibs again.
“It’s a different type of challenge to Saturday but it will be another tough game,” said Shankland.
“We’re expecting a much harder game than they gave us here last time when it was 6-0.
“It was a tough one down at Cappielow but we’re looking forward to it and will take a lot of positives from Hibs.”