COUNTY READY TO KILL UNITED’S TITLE DREAM
BRIAN GRAHAM believes Dundee United will be contemplating Ross County’s Tannadice visit tonight as potentially their last throw of the dice in the title race. The Staggies striker is well aware victory would send his team a massive 14 points clear at the Championship summit with only eight matches remaining. The Dingwall outfit lost 1-0 at home to United in mid-November but were 5-1 winners in their last away trip to face the Tangerines. Much has changed since, though, with United transformed on the back of 11 January signings. For Graham, who has nine goals from 12 starts this term, tonight’s match is a huge opportunity for County. The 31-year-old former Tannadice forward said: ‘We’ve opened up a good gap at the top and United will see this as a must-win game. ‘We go there with a game plan and a huge opportunity — a chance to go 14 points clear with eight games to go.’ While County had to bring in injury reinforcements in January, United boss Robbie Neilson made wholesale changes, bringing in the likes of Calum Butcher, Peter Pawlett, Morgaro Gomis and Osman Sow. That initially brought a spate of wins, but, more recently, a draw against Falkirk and defeats by Inverness and Partick Thistle. Graham insists County are ready for a very different United side, saying: ‘I think they brought in a full new team in January, so, obviously, Robbie Neilson wasn’t happy — and he’s changed it. ‘But we can’t focus too much on them. We have to keep working to get results. We didn’t expect to have the kind of gap we have but we’ve been getting results, even when sometimes not playing all that well. ‘I think it is a two-horse race just now, but we have a great chance to increase the lead tonight.’ County co-manager Stuart Kettlewell feels his team are seeing the rewards of a squad evolution in contrast to Neilson’s revolution. He said: ‘Our focus from the start of the season was continuity. If you get it right in the first place, January is just about fine-tuning. ‘We can’t throw around money. There have been big changes at United and the quality of players they signed is well-documented. ‘We didn’t have those kind of resources after a huge budget cut from where it was when we were in the Premiership.’