Butcher: play-off final agony is fuelling United’s top-flight promotion bid

DUNDEE UTD

V DUNDEE

driving force for Robbie Neilson’s relentless Championship pacesetters, who lead nearest challengers Inverness by 13 points going into tonight’s televised Tannadice derby with city rivals Dundee.

Back in May, though, the tearful Tangerines were left heartbrokenwhentheymissed all four penalties in a shootout with the Buddies which consigned them to a fourth consecutive season in the second tier.

Midfielder Butcher was part of the United side on that gutwrenching Sunday afternoon in Paisley, and admits it was there and then that they vowed never again to allow themselves to endure such agony.

He said: “I think the play-off defeat hurt a lot of boys.

“When most of the boys like myself came in during January, we wanted to go up that season.

“We obviously knew it was going to be tough to catch Ross County but we were still very confident going into the play-offs. So to lose the way we did on penalties against St Mirren kept a bit of hunger in our stomachs for this season.

“A lot of boys are still carrying that. We want to play in the Premiership next season so know we have to get out of this league as quickly as possible.

“You’re always proving people wrong in football. That’s the case in every game.

“It did hurt, to be honest, and we sat there in the dressing room and agreed that we couldn’t be doing the same thing and saying the same things 12 months later. It gave us all that little burning desire to get back to the Premiership.

“We’ve come through this tough run of fixtures, stuck together, and got the results we were looking for.”

Meanwhile, Josh Meekings insists Dundee aren’t seeking ‘revenge’ against bitter rivals United.

The defender is relishing tonight’s short walk up to Tannadice as James Mcpake’s underdogs try to redeem themselves for their last visit there which ended in an embarrassing 6-2 drubbing in late August.

That result came after November’s meek 2-0 surrender to the leaders at Dens Park but Meekings insists they’re not gunning for payback.

He said: “It’s nothing to do with revenge. Hopefully we have learned from those two derby defeats.

“We had a new group who’d come together at the start of the season. A few boys, including myself, hadn’t played in a Dundee derby before but we know what it’s about now.”