Pressure is on and that suits James

JAMES Keatings knows the heat will be on at Dundee United this season — but he’s cool about that.

As the Tele highlighted last month, this campaign will see the summer signing from Hibs going f or a remarkable fourth promotion to the Premiership.

He did it with Hamilton Accies in 2014 via the play-offs but the 25-yearold feels it’s the experience of going up with Hearts a year later and Hibs last term that has him perfectly prepared for being a United player.

“Promotion is the target here and I’ve been in this situation with my two previous clubs — one where you are favourites, you are pushed to win it and it’s expected.

“It’s like that here but Dundee United should be in the Premiership, so it’s right it’s that way.

“It’s a good pressure and it’s a burden the boys need to get used to. We know we need to go out to win every single game and keep focused on that.

“It won’t be easy, we found that out at Hibs. But when Neil Lennon came in last summer, he was massive on the mentality of the squad.

“He’d looked at the season before and saw we’d dropped points at places like Dumbarton. He knew he had to change that and he did.

“He got a stronger mentality and I took that on board myself and now I know every game has to be treated as massive.”

The start of league hostilities is three weeks away but, as he looks to the Betfred Cup group stages that kick off with the visit of Raith Rovers tomorrow, he sees a similar situation to the one United can expect in the Championship.

“The League Cup section is going to be competitive because we’re up against teams who will see us as a scalp and then have a derby and teams always want to beat their local rivals.

“It is going to be hard work and we just need to be ready, just like we’ll need to be when the league starts.”

Next to that clash over the road at Dundee a fortnight on Sunday, tomorrow’s meeting with Rovers has