The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Accies will match desire of United, claims Imrie
Midfielder issues warning despite being impressed by rivals’ determination
After watching Dundee United’s impressive comeback win against Falkirk, Hamilton’s Dougie Imrie has been left in no doubt about the Tangerines’ determination to get into the Premiership.
But their play-off final opponents’ determination to stay there is just as strong, according to the Accies forward.
Imrie said: “Falkirk will be gutted with the way they lost the two goals.
“I thought up until then they were slightly the better team. But it shows the desire and commitment Dundee United have. “They kept going right to the end. “You can see they have the desire to get up into the Premiership. It will be two tough games. But we will give it everything and if we play like we did today (in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Dundee) I’m sure we will go in full of confidence and get the right result.
“If we play the way we know we can play we’ll pose all the questions to Dundee United.
“We know it will be tough but we are definitely looking forward to it on the back of this performance and result.
“Tannadice is a great stadium and it always produces a great atmosphere. I’ve played there various times, so we are looking forward to Thursday and then getting them back to our place next Sunday.”
Former Hamilton star Tony Andreu, is well known to several of the current team but Imrie warned that the Frenchman is not the only dangerman for United.
He said: “We know his capabilities. He was here for a couple of years – a fantastic player, that’s why he got his move to Norwich.
“But I’m sure United have plenty of players we’ll have to be wary of. We’ll analyse it in the days before the game.”
Imrie has suffered three relegations so far in his career – Inverness in 2009, Hamilton in 2011 and Morton in 2014.
“It’s horrible,” he admitted. “It’s not just the players. There are repercussions for everyone.
“We have given ourselves a great opportunity with beating Dundee.
“We can go into the play-off full of confidence after scoring four fantastic goals. For the vast majority of the game we were magnificent.
“If we had beaten Ross County we might have come into the Dundee game needing to beat them to stay up. That’s how fine the margins are. But we’re delighted to get ourselves into this position now.”
“The Dundee result certainly gives us confidence, but consistency has been the big problem for us this season.”