Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Cowden will have a pop warns Lee
LEE McCulloch expects Dundee United to face an attacking challenge whe n pa r t-t i me rs Cowdenbeath head for Tannadice in the Betfred Cup tonight.
The format of the competition that sees drawn games go to penalties where a bonus point can be earned, means many smaller outfits set up to take the tie that far when facing full-time opposition.
However, having had them watched, the Tangerines coaching staff don’t believe the Blue Brazil will come and “park the bus” in this Group A clash.
“I think the penalty shootout might add to the game plan of certain teams but, to be fair to Cowdenbeath, they’ve been having a go in the games they’ve played and you have to take your hat off to them for that,” said assistant boss Lee.
“There’s a lot of teams that will sit in and try to hit you on the counter but, from what we’ve seen of Cowdenbeath, they have a go. We welcome that and, hopefully, we can get the job done in 90 minutes.”
From doing his homework on Cowden, Lee is also well aware they’ll have midfielder Archie Thomas, who left Tannadice at the end of last summer, in their ranks.
He’s delighted to see the kids, and others who moved on recently, fixed up elsewhere.
“There’s a few who have left that have got decent moves for themselves and a chance to go and prove themselves and it’s good to see,” Lee added.
“Mati Zata has signed for Dumbarton and we are well aware of Archie and just need to keep an eye on him.”
United expect to have all the players who were on duty for the 2-1 win at Stenhousemuir on Tuesday night while absentees from that one, Liam Smith and Rachid Bouhenna, could return.
“We’ve not got any serious injuries, a couple of knocks and bruises, but nothing we can’t handle,” added Lee.
“Bouhenna and Smith will be touch and go but I daresay they’ll be fine.
“Right now we’re still trying to give everybody game time.
“The cup falls at a time of the season where you want to do that but you can only make three subs.
“I think the whole thing about the cup is it would be good if you could make five or six subs but we are restricted to three and we just get on with it.”