Kevin Holt has backed Ross Graham to fill the void left by suspended Dundee United star Declan Gallagher.
United will be without the Scotland international for the visit of Aberdeen on Sunday and subsequent Dundee derby following his dismissal against St Johnstone on Boxing Day.
Gallagher’s mistimed lunge on Aaron Essel left referee Kevin Clancy with little choice but to flash the red card, casting a shadow over an otherwise outstanding performance by the experienced stopper.
However, Holt believes the Tangerines have already illustrated their strength in depth this season and expects that will be no different in the coming fixtures.
Graham is waiting in the wings following an untimely hamstring injury and, should he produce the same form he was displaying prior to that set-back, will seamlessly slot into the backline.
“It looked to me like he (Gallagher) got the ball in real time, but they’ve obviously looked at it and decided he made contact with the St Johnstone player,” said Holt.
“But there will be no issues with Rossco (Ross Graham) coming in. He was doing really well before his injury, so I was delighted to see him back on the pitch on Thursday – although not in those circumstances. That was a real positive for him.
“We’ve seen the competition for places all season. Rossco has played, I’ve been out the team for a while, Manny (Adegboyega) has been on the bench in some games when we have gone to a back four.
“And whoever plays in that backline, nothing changes. The message and the way we play are very clear: be good defenders, first and foremost.”
Follow the leader
As well as losing a very capable defender in Gallagher, United are also losing a leader.
However, Holt is adamant there are plenty of other big personalities to shoulder that burden.
He added: “Of course, we’ll miss Gall over the next couple of games. But you saw with Doc (Ross Docherty) coming on against St Johnstone – our captain for the last couple of years – that we have a lot of leaders to call upon.
“Even Vicko (Sevelj) and some of the foreign lads have really added to that; we have a team full of leaders.”
Chasing down the Dons
The win over St Johnstone means United have kicked off their gruelling winter schedule of seven games in 20 days with four points from the first two outings. Given they have hosted Celtic, that’s a fine platform to build upon.
Aberdeen – without a win in seven fixtures and reeling from a 4-0 defeat at Kilmarnock – are next up at a packed Tannadice. A victory would see the Tangerines move to within three points of Jimmy Thelin’s Dons in third place.
“We got done by the late goal at Pittodrie last time (1-0 defeat),” added Holt. “So that’s between our teeth coming into Sunday’s game and it’s one to really look forward to.
“We’ve been pretty consistent.
“We’ve had a couple of results that will annoy us looking back at the end of the season – conceding four goals at Motherwell, for example – but it’s been an unbelievable first few months of the season and this is a busy spell, with loads of big games to relish.”
Conversation