The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Stanton now on the other side of the fence
On-loan midfielder ready to turn the tables on his teammates from last season
Sam Stanton will be a bit of a poacher turned gamekeeper when Dundee United face Dumbarton at Tannadice today.
The midfielder, who is on loan from Hibs, was in the Sons side that frustrated and tormented the Tangerines throughout last season.
Stanton had a big part to play as the part-timers got the better of United in their match-ups, winning twice, drawing once and losing once.
That earned Dumbarton the right to be considered a bit of a bogey team for Ray McKinnon’s men and there will be a few home fans heading to the game with a little bit of trepidation this afternoon, especially after such a poor result in their last league game against St Mirren.
So Stanton knows what it takes for Dumbarton to beat United. Now all he has to do is work out how United can beat Dumbarton.
He said: “I obviously know that Dumbarton can be a difficult team to play against.
“We enjoyed a lot of success against United last season, winning the two games at home and drawing once at Tannadice.
“Even when we lost 2-1 in the other game there wasn’t much in it.
“So that was not a bad record and we just seemed to do really well against United.
“I think the secret to our success was that we had good players who could break quite quickly.
“That meant we were able to soak up pressure, keep players behind the ball then attack with speed. “That was it – not much else to it. “We sat in most games last season, particularly away from home, but the thing was that we still scored more goals on the road than most teams in the league by playing that way.”
The midfielder continued: “My feeling, being on the other side of the fence, was that it was very easy to play like that.
“You soaked it up, waited and then broke forward with four or five players when you got the opportunity. “It was successful.” So now for the $64,000 question: What do United do if Dumbarton park the bus?
Stanton replied: “I think what we need to do is move them about the pitch and get at them very early.
“It is important to try to put them under as much pressure as quickly as possible.
“You also need to do stuff that’s maybe off the cuff like beat people in open space.
“We do have the players that are capable of overcoming Dumbarton.”
Maybe so but there will need to be a much-improved display today compared to what they served up when losing 3-0 to the Buddies a fortnight ago.
“It was flat after the game and even for a few days afterwards,” admitted Stanton.
“That’s football, though, and you get bad results.
“We have to work on what we did wrong and start picking up results again.”
The Tangerines could hand a starting jersey today to striker Patrick N’Koyi, who scored the breakthrough goal in their 3-1 win in the Irn-Bru Cup last Saturday.
Stanton has been impressed by the Congolese Dutchman, saying: “Patrick has done really well in the cup games and made a real difference when he has come on as a substitute.
“So he offers us a different route to goal compared to the other strikers. “He is a bit more of a target man. “We can play a bit differently when he is in the side.”
Meanwhile, Sons boss Stephen Aitken has asked his players to repeat last season’s fine displays against United even though they are virtually a brand new team.
He said: “It would be fantastic to do as well again against United this season, especially as I think they have strengthened their squad.
“If you finish above them this season then I think you will have won the league.
“However, our ambitions are not as lofty as we are looking to just stay in the Championship but we want to go there and be competitive.”
Skipper Andy Dowie is suspended with Grant Gallagher and Danny Handling remaining out injured.
Dundee United’s Irn-Bru Cup game against Linfield will be played on Saturday October 7, kick-off 5.15pm, and will be live on BBC Alba.