Dundee United crashed out of the Scottish Cup after a tame defeat to Celtic on Monday night.
The Tannadice side lost out after a Callum McGregor strike and a Giorgos Giakamoukis double helped the Glasgow side book a semi-final clash with Rangers.
Courier Sport was at Tannadice on Monday to watch events unfold and here are our four talking points:
Benjamin Siegrist WILL bounce back from blunder
Benjamin Siegrist has been exceptional for United over the last few years.
He has earned United a considerable number of points with his outstanding saves.
That’s why he has credit in the bank to recover from his blunder against Celtic.
Giorgos Giakoumakis doubles @CelticFC's lead! 🍀
A mistake by Siegrist and the Celtic striker pounced to punish him 💥 pic.twitter.com/t4r5GGI6Ki
— Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) March 14, 2022
Siegrist made a key mistake at a point when United were beginning to feel their way back into the match.
He dropped Daizen Maeda’s cross straight to Giakamoukis who prodded home.
But as a supremely confident character, you’d back Siegrist to bounce back with some crucial saves in the top six run-in.
Did the Shed experiment work?
There were 8,533 fans inside Tannadice on Monday night, which made for quite a few empty seats in the upper tiers of United’s ground.
United chose to house their fans in three stands, including the Shed, ahead of selling more tickets to Celtic.
It, therefore, seems a bit bizarre to suggest ‘the Shed experiment’ worked.
But in many ways it did.
Put this in context, this was a Monday night fixture on live TV with ticket costs that had to be set high due to Celtic’s refusal to lower the pricing structure.
👀 No more what-ifs, now is the time #HampdensCalling | #UnitedTogether
— Dundee United FC (@dundeeunitedfc) March 10, 2022
United wanted to create a carnival atmosphere and, with strong backing from supporters’ clubs such as the Dundee United Supporters Foundation, they did that.
There were impressive displays at both ends and a vocal United support.
If United can start to get results to push for Europe then their fans WILL back them.
Miller Thomson makes debut for Dundee United against Celtic
As the lights went out on United’s Scottish Cup dream, there was one bright spark from the night.
Miller Thomson, at 17, became the 15th academy graduate to star for Dundee United’s first team this year.
Their verbal commitment to producing homegrown talent has been backed up in practice.
Miller can be proud of his 19 minutes on the pitch.
He looked lively and determined to get on the ball and United could use his spark in the coming weeks.
What next for Dundee United?
United’s stated ambition this year has always been to get into the top six.
They are still in the mix for that but face three pivotal games away to St Mirren, Hibernian and a home Dundee derby.
Win those and the race for Europe is ON.
United need to focus and rediscover their creative spark, starting on Saturday in Paisley, to get it done.
