Dundee United coach Craig Easton is backing his young players to bounce back from their Oriam hammering by reaching the next round of the Irn-Bru Cup.
The Tangerines will field a side made up predominantly of Easton’s reserves when they face Alloa in the knockout tournament at Tannadice on Saturday.
Their task is to go one better than Csaba Laszlo’s senior team, who have failed to beat the Wasps twice already this season.
They will have to dig deep to bounce back from the 5-1 loss they suffered against Hearts at the Edinburgh sports complex on Monday.
Easton argued that his youngsters weren’t as bad as the scoreline suggests and pointed out that they missed two penalties.
He said: “We are looking forward to the Alloa game even though it comes on the back of what wasn’t a good result for us against Hearts.
“It wasn’t a 5-1 performance, though.
“We missed two penalties and we were always in the game until the last two goals went in later in the second half.
“We are missing a few players to injury but I thought we pressed Hearts in the second half.
“I think 5-1 was harsh on us but you still don’t want to lose five goals and you want to defend better.”
Easton is expecting the Wasps to be along similar lines to their first-team draw against United in the Championship on Saturday.
He added: “I think they don’t have a massive squad so it could be similar to the league game against us on Saturday.
“They were pretty good and they were also decent when we faced them at Tannadiceearlier in the season (in the Betfred Cup).
“I have watched the footage from the weekend and they are an organised side and move up and down the park well.
“They have guys who can hurt you.
“They are a good, fit and organised outfit. It will be a hard game.”
