Dillon recalls closed-doors experience in eerie tie

United 10 years ahead of time with Europa League clash with AEK

team’s turf. That set off a mad scramble to find a suitable venue, with Uefa finally deciding on the 32,000-capacity Karaiskakis, home of another of AEK’S rivals Olympiakos.

The 600 or so United travelling supporters were left in the dark, although it didn’t stop them painting the city’s bars tangerine. They would eventually be bussed to the match by the Greek authorities.

Even the Scottish media were caught up in the mayhem, with reporters, including yours truly, bundled into a mini-bus and given an armed police escort from their hotel to the ground amid worries about trouble outside the venue.

Thankfully, the United players managed to avoid much of the chaos, as explained by defender Sean Dillon.

“Looking back, Housty and the backroom team were absolutely brilliant at shielding us from what was going on,” said the Irishman.

“It was all about the actual football for us – not about where we would be playing.

“We kind of knew there was a problem when we landed in Greece but we were told not to worry about it.

“As a player, that’s what you want to hear. You just get on with it and that’s what we did.”

However, Dillon admitted that it was a strange experience walking out to a sea of empty red seats, painted in the colours of Olympiakos.

Only the United fans were allowed inside to watch the tie and they were all bunched together in one section.

“I’m still not sure if the lack of AEK fans helped us or not,” added the now Montrose player-coach.

“On the one hand, you would imagine their supporters would have made a lot of noise and gotten right behind them. But we also would have tried to get the home fans to turn on them by frustrating the crowd.

“You also always fancy playing in big games with huge crowds and great atmospheres so I suppose it was a shame that we missed out on that.

“At least we could hear the United fans that night. They were tucked away in a wee corner but we heard them all right and they were brilliant.

“It will be even quieter for the players when the Premiership games do get started behind closed doors and it will take some getting used to.”

United, who were captained by central defender Garry Kenneth, lined up: Dusan Pernis, Dillon, Paul Dixon, Kenneth, Keith Watson, Craig Conway, Scott Robertson, David Robertson (Danny Swanson 59), Prince Buaben, Morgaro Gomis (Jon Daly 62), Danny Cadamarteri (David Goodwillie 48).

Dillon and is teammates were a goal behind on the night and two adrift in the tie after 23 minutes when Papa Babou Diop found the back of the net with a close-range strike off a knockdown but United gradually clawed their way back into the game.

Much of their good play came from