Darren Dods has revealed United have had no chance to toast reaching the Scottish Cup final because the pursuit of second-placed Celtic is commanding their attention.
Three days on from beating Raith Rovers in the semis, the Tangerines face a crunch meeting with Rangers. After Celtic beat Motherwell on Tuesday night, Dods admits tonight’s is a match United must win to have any hope of splitting the Old Firm.
But he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“We had no time to celebrate reaching the cup final because we had this match coming up,” he said.
“Having won the semi on Sunday we were in training Monday. But that’s what you want at this time of the season.
“The last two seasons we did well over Christmas then, either side of the split, struggled and the campaign petered out.
“This time we’ve gone into the split on a good run and now we’ll aim to keep that going.
“There’s so much left to play for and we’re getting players like Fran Sandaza and Danny Cadamarteri back and seeing Scott Robertson return to training, which is welcome.
“It would be a great achievement splitting the Old Firm. But it’s going to be a hard ask.
“Realistically, I feel we’ll have to win the six games we’ve got left to do it and even then we’d be relying on Celtic slipping up.
“It’s probably going to hinge on the results before we play them.
“We need to narrow the gap before we get them here on April 25.Not hindered”That will almost certainly require us to beat Rangers at home and Motherwell away.”
With the Light Blues closing in on the SPL title that will be no easy task, but having beaten Walter Smith’s side in a quarter-final replay a fortnight ago Dods insists United won’t be hindered by any inferiority complex.
“We’re confident after beating Rangers in the cup,” he stated.
“OK they made changes that night, but we played well and will look to do the same again.”
Boss Peter Houston plans to shake things up.
“Paul Dixon is missing, obviously, and Andy Webster too, so Garry Kenneth will come back in,” he said.
“We’ll freshen it up further, with the likes of Jeno Myrie-Williams, Fran Sandaza, Damian Casalinuovo, Mihael Kovacevic and Danny Cadamarteri in contention to be involved.”
Rangers are boosted by the return of Madjid Bougherra and Kirk Broadfoot.
Both players have been sidelined for several weeks with hamstring problems but are added to the squad for the trip to Tannadice.
No fresh injuries or suspensions means boss Walter Smith has a full squad to choose from as the Scottish champions edge closer to retaining the title.Dundee United have asked fans not to phone the club regarding tickets for the Scottish Cup final on May 15. Information will not be available until after a meeting between the two finalists and SFA officials early next week.