The pain of missing last week’s Europa League first leg against Slask Wroclaw will make Garry Kenneth even more determined to help Dundee United into the next round.
Kenneth was ruled out late on Tuesday evening and did not travel to Poland last week after aggravating a hamstring injury which, in turn, provoked a nerve problem behind his knee, but the centre-back has made a quick recovery and resumed full training on Friday.
The Scotland international is in line to make his comeback against Slask and, with United trailing by only one goal, he believes they can win through to the next phase of the competition.
The defender said, “It was heartbreaking to miss the first leg because I was desperate to be involved. I didn’t even travel to Poland with the rest of the lads because it was more important to stay here and work hard on being fit for the second leg.
“I watched the game on television, so was kicking and heading every ball.
“I was even shouting at the ref on the telly. I think my family thought I was mad, but I’m always like that when I have to watch United because I hate missing out.
“I had my gran and grandad round as well, so we were all there cheering the boys on.
“I thought we did really well, and on another day would have scored twice in the first half to go two up. By the time Slask scored I felt they had started to run out of ideas, but that shows how dangerous they still are.”CautionUnited manager Peter Houston, mindful of Slask’s counter-attacking style, will urge his players to show caution, and Kenneth knows the players will have to show discipline, but is hoping for an early goal that would open up the tie.
He added, “If we score early then it really will be game on. They looked vulnerable up against Jon Daly at set-pieces over in Poland in the first leg and that’s something we will look to exploit.
“I’m feeling good and am just desperate to be involved. I have been training since last Friday and, fingers crossed, I won’t suffer any reaction before the game.
“The problem has been my hamstring, which has aggravated a nerve behind my knee, but I feel like I’m almost 100% over it now.”
A boyhood United supporter, Kenneth has issued a rallying call to his fellow fans to play their part at Tannadice.
He said, “It’s our turn to have home advantage now and we’ll have to make sure we use it. I’m sure the fans will turn out in numbers because it’s a big game and the tie is still very much alive.
“It’s always special when we shoot down to the Eddie Thompson stand because the fans behind that goal seem to suck the ball into the net at times.
“They really can be our 12th man, and if we can take the same performance from last week and apply it to the home game then we have a real chance.
“The lads are full of confidence. We know we have to score a goal, but we won’t be going all-out to do that straight away because that could leave us vulnerable, but I think over the 90 minutes we are good enough to score at some point then we’ll see what happens from there.”
United are hoping to have Danny Swanson available after a recent back injury and will continue to monitor his fitness before making a decision on matchday.