The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Murray says there’s still time for promotion push
Striker’s sights on step up despite latest setback
Dundee United’s Simon Murray admits promotion is still his number one target this season – and he does not care how he achieves it.
The Tangerines suffered a serious setback against St Mirren in Paisley on Wednesday night, losing 3-2.
The result meant that Ray McKinnon’s side are still 10 points adrift of league leaders Hibs and remain in fourth place in the Championship table.
Despite that, Murray has not given up all hope of catching the Easter Road outfit but he admits United have to be prepared for the possibility of having to try to go up through the play-offs.
And he is determined that tomorrow’s league match at Raith and next weekend’s Challenge Cup final will be the launchpad for their promotion push.
He said: “We’re still in the play-off mix. We want to aim as high as we can. If it’s going to be second then we have to make sure it’s second but the league is still not over.
“I know it’s 10 points but anything can happen so we need to keep working as hard as we can and if we can’t win the league then we have to finish as high as possible.
“A win on Saturday would do us the world of good and it could give us momentum.
“We then play St Mirren again in the Irn Bru Cup final and we’ll be going there to win that.
“We know it will be a tough game but we know if we play as we can, then we can win it.
“Winning that trophy could be the platform for us in the remaining league games.
“Our objective at the start of the season was to get promoted so if we go up through the play-offs then everyone will be happy.
“If we can claim a trophy along the way then that’s a bonus. We want to win everything we can.”
United had the worst possible start on Wednesday against the side propping up the Championship table, conceding in just the second minute.
And although star man Tony Andreu scored two for the Tangerines, it was not enough to prevent them slumping to their second defeat in succession.
Murray added: “The way we started we probably didn’t deserve to get anything out of it.
“It was really disappointing because we had trained well and we thought we were going to go there and put on a good performance but it wasn’t good enough.
“We shot ourselves in the foot by losing the early goal. It killed us and you are always chasing when you are down 1-0 so it wasn’t the best of starts.
“They had a few good results recently and they were hungry so we knew it wouldn’t be an easy game, but overall it was disappointing.
“Tony is obviously a quality player and he can pop up and score a goal at any time. But we need more than one player.
“We need to pick ourselves up and go again on Saturday and start picking up wins.
“The run we have been on has been tough to say the least but it’s our job to pick ourselves up, starting with getting three points on Saturday.
“We haven’t had too many clean sheets in the run we have been on but it’s about defending as a team.
“We have to tighten up and make sure we can get going again on Saturday.”