Aberdeen snatching third place from Dundee United after their first league win since November is hugely frustrating.
It says a couple of things about how the season is panning out for both clubs.
From a Dons perspective, it goes to show how strong their start to the season was, that they can go over three months without a win, then climb straight into third when they do eventually get one.
More importantly, from a United point of view, it proves that Jim Goodwin’s side never really took full advantage of Aberdeen’s slump.
Given how few points the Dons have been picking up, if the Tangerines had been truly ruthless, they would be well clear in third place by now.
Instead, they allowed Aberdeen to hang in there, within touching distance.
As I said, that will be hugely frustrating for everybody at Tannadice.
On the plus side, United now have a run of seven games before the split in which they don’t have to worry about facing Celtic or Rangers.
As a result, every single one of them is winnable – and Aberdeen could quickly be caught.
Losing 3-0 at Celtic Park is just one of those results that can be put to one side and forgotten about.
It’s a shame for the league in general that most teams write off the idea of going to Celtic Park and getting any sort of result.
More often than not, you’re going there thinking about damage limitation – try to get through the game without getting an absolute doing, basically!
Upcoming games key to third place for United
United were probably a bit over-defensive this time around, to be honest. But it’s a really fine line when you go to these places.
Celtic find it too when they play in Europe; do you go toe-to-toe with a better-equipped opponent and leave yourself open, or do you go defensive and hope you can grind something out?
At the end of the day, I think Jim Goodwin did the right thing by resting Will Ferry and Kevin Holt, who are two massive players, and making sure they’re ready for the next run of games, which are far more important to United than any away game at Celtic.
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