United need to shape up before it’s too late
Willo Flood admits Dundee United need to shape up before their season turns pear-shaped.
T he Ta n g e r i n e s ’ automatic promotion hopes were dealt another huge blow on Friday when they lost to Livingston.
The defeat left United languishing behind both in- form Livi and tabletopping St Mirren.
However, Flood reckons the desperate Tangerines can still save themselves from a potentially devastating third season in the Championship – by replicating their gutsy second-half performance at the Tony Macaroni Arena.
“We need to show a lot of heart between now and the end of the season,” he said.
“We w e re in this situation last season and were so close. A penalty decision at Tannadice probably stopped us from getting promoted.
“So we need to shape up from now because we’ve got to get this club back to where it belongs.
“It has been in this division for too long.
“We need to fight like we did in the second half against Livingston, but do it in every game, for 90 minutes.
“If we do that, a lot of teams will struggle against us.
e added: “In the second half the fans were behind us and we showed them what we’re all about.
“Matty Smith came on and gave us a spark straight away.
“We got Scott Mcdonald involved in the game – but with people around him.
“It looked like there was only one team going to win it and, to be fair to Livi’s keeper, he made some great saves.
“But it’s just not going for us at the moment. I can’t put my finger on it.
“We showed in the second half that there’s a bit of fight about us, which there hasn’t been for a while.”
Asked if St Mirren’s lead is now too big for United to reel in, Flood’s answer was telling.
The Irishman didn’t say yes, but he didn’t say no either.
Instead, he spelled out the challenge as he sees it – arrest the slump.
On Tu e s d a y night against Queen of the South, that will be his – and everyone else wearing Tangerine’s – aim.
He explained: “We’re just concentrating on trying to get the next win and trying to get a bit of confidence back in the squad.
“We’ve been lacking a bit of that in recent games.
“Too often this season we’ve only played well in little spells here and there.
“We need to get to a stage where we’re on it for the full 90 minutes so we can show the real Dundee United.
“It’s a good thing to go” straight back i Hn on Tuesday.
“Lately we’ve been missing a lot of games through call- offs and teams playing in the Irn-bru Cup, so it will be good to get a run of games into us.”