Murray disputes manager’s ‘calm’ claim in Dundee United’s play-off turnaround
Dundee United proved a camp in disagreement about the definition of calm in the wake of their precious Premiership play-off victory at Cappielow on Tuesday.
The Tannadice side looked in a real pickle when finding themselves a goal down away to Greenock Morton at half-time in the first leg of their play-off quarter-final. A dramatic second-half turnaround sends them into tomorrow night’s return leg with a 2-1 advantage and manager Ray Mckinnon claimed his players’ reaction was not down to any harsh words towards his players.
However, Simon Murray – who netted a brilliant equaliser minutes into a second period that brought a switch from wide left to a central striker role – would beg to differ.
“I wouldn’t say he was calm,” said the forward. “He gave us a wee boot up the a**e but we probably needed it.
“He was not overly animated because he knows we have the ability to pass the ball and come out on top.we are not getting carried away as it is only half-time in the tie.”
United have lost only once at home this season – a 1-0 reverse to Hibernian two months ago – while Morton are without a victory since the middle of March. The evidence suggests that it will be United that go forward to face Falkirk in next week’s play-off semi- final but the 25-year-old and his team daren’t think like that.
“There are still 90 minutes to go and Morton will fancy their chances. We know that if we can play to our potential and capabilities at home then we can be confident of winning after being beaten only once.”
Murray accepts that United can ill-afford to be as off it for 45 minutes as they were in the first period on Tuesday. “We don’t want to give Morton the chance to get back into the tie,” he said. “If they get the first goal then maybe nerves would creep in and mistakes would get made.
“We are confident that with the fans at home they can act as the 12th man and if we get the first goal then that would probably be it. You want to get the job done as early as possible. Morton are no mugs and we will need to be well drilled to see it over the finishing line.”
Thomas O’ware, scorer of an early opener as Jim Duffy’s side dominated, would echo that assessment. The Morton captain admitted it was a “sickener” his team couldn’t hold on to their lead – thanks to a peach of a strike that the Cappielow skipper said Murray “couldn’t have hit any better” – but that they will pick themselves up.
“It’s not a massive squad and we are punching above our weight but we do feel we have enough left in the tank,” he said.
“We do have a strong mentality and we know we are capable of matching anybody.we are not going into the second game thinking ‘our holidays start tomorrow’.”