Dundee United’s aim is to get back to playing the brand of football that made them Championship promotion contenders when Queen of the South visit.
That’s the message from goalie Cammy Bell — and the bad news for the Doonhamers is it means repeating the form when the teams last met.
Bell believes the Tangerines were at their very best when they won 4-1 at Palmerston in early November.
He had to watch the second half of that game from the bench because of a calf strain and feels his team’s play was frightening.
“We really did destroy them that day and it could have been more than four. We got right at them and it was a great performance,” he said.
“I remember sitting on the bench in the second half and it was waves of attack from us. It was good to watch.
“It was aggressive, attacking football and we went and tried to score as many goals as we could. I think it could have been six or seven.”
Queens were at a low ebb at that point and 48 hours later manager Gavin Skelton left the club.
Former Scotland international Gary Naysmith has since taken over and Bell knows they are a different proposition this time round.
“They’ve changed their manager, so we know it will be a different match this time and it will be a difficult one.
“They’ve had a good reaction to the new manager and they got a good result on Saturday past.
“We’ll look at their performance and where their strengths and weaknesses are. We know we need to be at our best but, if we are, we can do well.”
He insists the disappointment of last Friday’s poor performance and defeat in the top-of-the-table clash at Hibs is past and there’s a determin-ation in the United dressing-room to get their challenge back on track.
“It was disappointing but it’s all about our reaction and the boys are in a positive place.
“This gives us a great opportunity to do that to try to repay the fans.
“They went in numbers to Hibs and we know we let them down but we’ve been working hard this week to get things right.”
And his experience of this league with Rangers and United tells him there’s everything to play for.
“We’re still only four points behind Hibs and there’s a lot to play for this season. There’s still a lot of twists and turns to go in this league.”
Today should see United fans get their first prolonged look at new loan signing Thomas Mikkelsen.
And Bell believes they will like what they see from the Dane, who is on loan for the rest of the campaign from Odense.
“Having another option up front will be great for us with Thomas coming in.
“He’s got a good bit of experience and has played at a decent level.
“I’m looking forward to seeing him play. He’s looked great in training, he looks sharp. His fitness looks good as well, he doesn’t look as if he’s struggling at all.
“He’s ready to go, he’s raring to go, you can tell he’s that type of boy. He’ll be desperate to play and it’s good to have that competition in the squad.”
Mikkelsen has been brought in to help bolster the goals tally but, although United have averaged less than a goal a game since that win down in Dumfries, Bell feels there are plenty in the team.
“We do get forward and create. Since the Queen of the South game it’s been one goal that’s won us games.
“But in every game apart from the Hibs game we have created chances and we are a team capable of scoring goals.”
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