Neilson bid to make the most of extra preparation

TANGERINES: Tannadice manager takes positives into crunch duel with Staggies

Dundee United boss Robbie Neilson says that while he was desperate for Saturday’s match at Dunfermline to go ahead as planned, the late postponement gave him more time to prepare his players for tonight’s crunch clash with Ross County at Tannadice.

The Tangerines team bus was already at East End Park when the game with the Pars was called off at 1.30 due to a waterlogged pitch.

It was a bitter blow to the manager as he had hoped to close the 11-point gap on County at the top of the Championship.

However, the free Saturday means his players are even better prepared and refreshed going into this evening’s game.

Neilson said: “It was disappointing for us all as we were in the dressing-room waiting for it to go ahead.

“But obviously the pitch wasn’t right and it was cancelled. We were more disappointed with the lateness of it with the fans travelling down and us travelling down.

“But it is up to Dunfermline and the SFA to come to an agreement and we just have to turn up.

“You try to give it as much time as you can to get the game on as everyone wants to play it but it wasn’t to be.

“To be honest we were desperate to play it.

“We really wanted the game to go ahead as it gave us a chance to pick up three points and if we had done that it would have brought the points gap down.

“But on the other side of it, we have had a bit more time to prepare for the game.”

Neilson knows only too well the importance of tonight’s match but he insists that with the Staggies so far in front at this late stage of the season, his players cannot afford to drop points in any of their remaining matches.

He added: “It is a big, big game for both teams but especially for us. We need to win it to get ourselves back in it again.

“I think they are all must-win, to be honest with you.

“The games we have left, we have to win them all to give ourselves a chance.

“There are a lot of decent teams in this league and it is difficult to put a run together.

“But we have to try to do that now. We are at that stage where we have to put results together.

“We know it is going to be very tough but we believe we have enough to do it.”

United will be without injured striker Osman Sow and fellow frontman Pavol Safranko who is away on international duty with Slovakia.

Robbie Neilson is hoping an extra day to get ready will help United but he’d really rather have had the Pars game go ahead in a bid to close the big gap to the Staggies.