Stuart Armstrong has progressed to become one of the first picks for the Scotland under-21s. Now the young midfielder is looking to do the same for his club.
The 20-year-old has been told by national coach Billy Stark that he will be at the core of his plans for their next qualification campaign, such has been his development over the last few months.
Scotland recognition is one thing but Armstrong is yet to establish himself as a first-team regular at Tannadice, having found himself on the bench more than the pitch so far this term.
However, if his impressive performance against Aberdeen on Saturday is a reliable barometer, he’s about to get his wish on the domestic front as well.
He said: ”It gave me a bit of confidence to know he (Stark) has that sort of faith in my ability. I enjoy going away on the Scotland trips and feeling like I’m an important player. I’m hoping to get a regular place in the United team now and hopefully I’ve done enough to merit another start next week.
”On a personal level, maybe I could have finished off a few chances but I was quite happy with the contribution I made. This is a good opportunity for me to stay in the team. There’s a lot of competition for places here but I think if I keep doing well I can do it.”
Armstrong stretched the Aberdeen backline on several occasions with well-timed runs from midfield, as a result of which he had a couple of sights at goal that he squandered.
However, he was rarely wasteful with his link-up play and nearly set up a United goal on 38 minutes when he put Johnny Russell through, only for Russell Anderson to save the day with a perfectly executed sliding tackle.
By this time Peter Houston’s men were 1-0 up, thanks to a strong burst into the box by Russell midway through the first half, which ended up with his shot being blocked by Jamie Langfield into the path of John Rankin, who buried the rebound.
This never looked like being a game where one strike was going to be enough to settle it. Both goals lived a charmed life at times, with balls headed off the line (Mark Millar from Anderson on 41 minutes) and point-blank saves (Langfield from Keith Watson on 57 minutes).
The Aberdeen equaliser came eight minutes after the break when Anderson flicked on a Ryan Fraser corner and Niall McGinn steered the ball home from close range.
Armstrong reflected: ”We were a bit disappointed not to win, with the chances we had, but they had a few as well and had one cleared off the line. So a draw was probably a fair result in the end.
”I think we were more positive today. In the matches before we hadn’t been creating that many clear-cut chances but that wasn’t the case today. That’s encouraging, as is the fact that we defended well too.
”It was a shame our last match at Motherwell was called off because we were all really looking forward to it. But we were raring to go again for this one.”
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Saturday’s contest had the added factor of a 20-minute delay to the kick-off as a result of traffic disruption on the main route into Dundee, which the Dons team bus was caught up in.
Aberdeen’s Chris Clark felt there was a good case for putting the start back even further.
He said: ”It wasn’t easy. Normally we have a meeting at the club but when we arrived at about 12pm there was no time for that. It was straight on the bus.
”We got a police escort and without that we’d have arrived a lot later than we did. It was bang on 2.30pm when we got here.
”I was surprised the game was only delayed for 20 minutes. We had to get changed quickly and the warm-up felt rushed. You just had to get your head right. It was all about attitude today, and we actually started the game really well.”
United went into the match on the back of two heavy league defeats and a three-week lay-off, but they looked much more like their old selves against a visiting team boasting a double-figure unbeaten run and Peter Houston believes there’s plenty on which he can now build.
He observed: ”I thought we were the better team in the first half but Aberdeen were dangerous with set-plays. Russell Anderson got a free header just before half-time and Mark Millar cleared it off the line. We spoke about Jon Daly going into that area but the players were confident to just keep it as it was.
”In hindsight I wish Jon had gone in there because I think he would have attacked the ball better. That’s no disrespect to the boys.
”Then we probably had even better chances in the second half but Aberdeen were dangerous and it was a good match. When I consider our performance at Inverness, that was night and day. It’s improvement and it’s a start.”
As well as being a more United-like team performance, there were a few notable individual displays, chief among them Russell.
”Johnny Russell was back to form after dipping a bit,” Houston said. ”Stuart Armstrong gave them a lot of problems, Daly did a job at the back as we know he’s capable of and Rankin was good.
”Mark Millar made his first start, which annoys me a wee bit because that should have happened at the end of August.
”His fitness levels weren’t what an SPL player needs. It’s only now I’m confident enough to put him in.
Aberdeen have five draws in their 11-game unbeaten streak. Some of them have frustrated boss Craig Brown but this wasn’t one of them.
He pointed out: ”I think that was a fair result. You would argue it was a better result for Aberdeen because we’re away from home.
”There was a lot of good play from both sides. Dundee United are in a false position. They have a couple of games in hand, they are a better team than their league position (second bottom) indicates. They will finish in the top six.”