Dundee United manager Jackie McNamara maintains that the spectre of last season’s Scottish Cup final loss should not play on his players’ minds ahead of their all-important League Cup semi this afternoon.
Given the nature of the competition’s final four, and the fact that United are heading back to Hampden, today’s encounter with Aberdeen certainly has that ‘big game’ feel about it with another major final now tantalisingly close for the Tangerines.
But while United came up short against St Johnstone in their last attempt to secure silverware in May, McNamara insists nobody at Tannadice is dwelling on what’s gone before.
“To be honest, I tend not to look at the past and I’m sure Derek McInnes is the same,” he told Courier Sport.
“As a player I won finals and lost them and, when you win, it’s all about winning the next one.
“Derek will be telling his players that they won this cup last season and the hunger will still be there.
“For me, we did well to reach the Scottish Cup final but just didn’t do ourselves justice on the day so the important thing for us is to get back there and not leave anything behind.
“Have I learned from last year? Of course.
“I’m learning every day in the job.
“Dealing with players, agents, media, it’s all part of learning.
“Learning from disappointments makes you stronger and hopefully the wins and good things will come from it.”
McNamara insists that Aberdeen will start today’s clash as favourites, although he reckons the two league games between the pair point to a closely-fought encounter.
“I think Aberdeen go into it as favourites because they won it last year and they have a bit more experience in their squad guys like McGinn who have been at Celtic, and Robson and Flood,” he explained.
“They have the experience of winning it last year.
“We only have one or two who have the experience of winning trophies.
“It is just about getting them to settle down and not thinking about it too much and play their normal game.
“It’ll all be down to whoever does better on the day.
“Aberdeen have had a terrific season so far and they’ve done consistently well, especially when it comes to not conceding.
“But we’re just three points behind them in the league though, and I believe we’ve done well to hang in there with them.”
Much of the media focus has been on tomorrow’s other semi-final, when Celtic take on Rangers, and McNamara is content to be out of the spotlight.
He added: “When the draw was made no-one spoke about United v Aberdeen because the Old Firm have not played for a few seasons and everything else behind the scenes.
“But I’m sure Derek will say the same – it doesn’t affect our preparations behind the scenes.
“If anything it has been a bit more low key, which is fine.
“The players are not as nervous about it as much.
“The Rangers-Celtic thing is always there and always will be there because of the things around it.”