United fell short, admits Dow
RYAN DOW last night admitted that Dundee United failed to do themselves justice on the big occasion at Celtic Park yesterday.
However, the 22-year-old striker, preferred to young star Ryan Gauld in the starting line-up, insisted that the Tannadice team still had enough chances to win the Scottish Cup for the third time in their history.
‘We can play a lot better than that, but we still had chances and hit the post and the bar,’ insisted Dow, who saw a first-half effort come back off the inside of the upright.
‘But when that happens, you start to think it’s not going to be your day and I want to congratulate St Johnstone.
‘I thought my shot that hit the post was in when it left my boot and that it was going to come off (Saints defender) Steven Anderson who was near the line but, unfortunately, that didn’t happen.’
To make matters worse for United, Anderson then put them firmly on the back foot with his opener just before half-time.
‘It was the worst possible time to concede a goal with almost the last kick of the first half,’ said Dow. ‘However, we still had 45 minutes to get back into the game and win it — and we couldn’t do that.
‘The manager said to us at half-time that we had the whole second half ahead of us and to go out and score a quick goal and start pushing them. Afterwards he was just gutted, like the rest of us.
‘There was a stoney silence in the dressing room because we all felt the same way.
‘But then you have to pick yourself up.
‘The manager also told us to pick our heads up and come back after the summer stronger.
‘We can still feel proud because it’s been an OK season. But, having said that, you also think about what might have been.
‘Cup finals don’t come round very often but, hopefully, we’ll get back to another one soon and do everything in our power to win it.
‘Our fans deserve that. They were unbelievable after turning out in their biggest numbers ever for a final and all the boys are devastated that we let them down.’