Jim Goodwin is adamant that Wednesday’s Premiership showdown with Motherwell is the ideal opportunity to swiftly bounce back from defeat against Aberdeen.
United do not have their fitness problems to seek, with Louis Moult, Ross Graham, Craig Sibbald and Ross Docherty all set to miss the visit of the Steelmen.
That means another tough shift for those United stars who ran themselves into the ground in a resolute, but ultimately fruitless, showing at Pittodrie.
Nevertheless, Goodwin reckons his group will be delighted to have another fixture so swiftly.
“I think if you ask the players, they really enjoy having those midweek games,” said Goodwin. “When you have a defeat, you want to get back out there quickly and put the wrongs right.
“That’s what we aim to do on Wednesday night.
“Motherwell are a difficult team, and it was a disappointing result in the cup when we last played. We know what to expect and we’ll pick a starting 11 and system, hopefully, that will be good enough to get the result we need.”
A work in progress
Indeed, that Premier Sports Cup quarter-final looms large in the recent history of this fixture.
The electric contest under the lights at Fir Park was delicately balanced at 1-1 going into injury time, only for Luca Stephenson’s wild challenge on Moses Ebiye to allow Lennon Miller to slot home the winning goal from the penalty spot.
“There wasn’t a great deal between ourselves and Motherwell in that game, going 1-1 right up until the dying moments,” continued Goodwin.
“Then we shot ourselves in the foot with the penalty kick in the last minute of the game.
“It’s going to be a decent game; two teams that have had a decent start to the season.”
‘We need to get better on the ball’
And after a largely backs-to-the-wall showing against the Dons at the weekend, Goodwin added: “We’re at home, so the onus is on us to take the game to the opposition.
“We want to do better. We are still very much a work in progress, and we need to get better on the ball.”
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