Dundee United’s Scott Severin admits the desperate disappointment of last week’s Scottish Cup exit at Motherwell will be a big motivational factor when the two sides meet again in the league tonight.
The Tannadice players partly redeemed themselves after relinquishing their hold on the trophy by going to Ibrox on Saturday and pulling off a fantastic 3-2 victory over Rangers.
However Severin, who has spent much of the season on the sidelines recuperating from an ankle injury, insists United are hurting after the Steelmen beat them and are determined to make amends.
“It is great to be back involved again after being out for nearly six and a half months,” he said.
“It was incredibly frustrating as initially I thought I would only be out for a couple of weeks but then I needed an operation. My recovery also took a lot longer than I had hoped.
“But the boys have done brilliantly, especially when you consider some of the teams the gaffer has had to put out because of the injuries we have had.”
He added, “We were a bit patchy at times but I think we have shown now that we have most of the guys back, we have picked up where we left off last season. We are on a good run and have won six SPL games in a row now.
“It is great to be on this run but we have a difficult game on Wednesday night against Motherwell.
“The guys are still gutted at what happened there last week as we were desperate to retain the cup but it just wasn’t to be.
“It is good to get a chance to go there so soon after the cup defeat.”Hearts in players’ sightsUnited’s victory in Glasgow at the weekend took them to within 10 points of third-placed Hearts, with one game in hand.
While most pundits would suggest that is too much ground to make up at this late stage of the season, former Tynecastle man Severin believes the Terrors can overhaul his old side.
He said, “We still have a game in hand on Hearts and we also have to play them hopefully at Tannadice after the split.
“You never know as the guys are really buzzing now. They even want to extend training sessions because they are enjoying them so much.”
He added, “We love a challenge and we have eight games left to the end of the season and we just want to win as many as possible.
Despite that stunning win against Rangers, Severin’s boss Peter Houston admitted he might make changes to his side for tonight’s match.
Fir Park has been a bogey ground for United this season and Houston has several factors to weigh up before making his final team selection.
“It was great to bounce back after the disappointment of the cup defeat, especially at Ibrox,” he said.
“But when you score three goals at Rangers, you certainly think you deserve to win.”
He added, “However, it is horses for courses in many ways and we have to look at ourselves at Motherwell and say we have not done particularly well this season.
“They have knocked us out of both cups and we have lost a league match there as well.”Passing game?Houston said, “We will also have to look at the state of the pitch and decide if it is conducive to our passing game.
“It might mean we have to adopt a different approach but I also think we cannot just knock the ball from back to front all the time.”
United were a shadow of their usual selves as they were dumped out of the cup but Houston believes the win at Ibrox can be the spur that helps his players make it a magnificent seven league wins in a row tonight.
He said, “That was the real Dundee United on Saturday.
“Let’s be honest about it, there are very few times I can accuse the players of not turning up.
“But we did not turn up last week at Motherwell and we did the same thing at the start of the season against Inverness when they beat us 4-0 at home.”
He added, “The players have always bounced back from defeats like that and Saturday’s win has got them in the proper frame of mind again.
“We have now won six out of six in the league hopefully we can make it seven at Motherwell.”
Garry Kenneth has been added to the squad for the game but skipper Jon Daly faces a late fitness test on a medial knee ligament strain.