After seeing off St Mirren 2-1 at Tannadice, Dundee United face a probable Scottish Cup quarter-final away to Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
The Highlanders still have to overcome Stranraer in a replay, but they will be strong favourites to do just that.
And Ryan Gauld, who scored United’s opener against the Buddies in his first start in five games, admitted that they have a score to settle after Caley dumped them out of the League Cup at the same stage on a controversial night at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium.
He said: “No matter which team of the two it is, it will be a hard game. If it’s Inverness we will know what it’s going to be like because we were up there in the other cup. We’d just have to go there for revenge.
“I was at Hampden with John (Souttar) when United won the cup. That’s what you dream of as a kid.
“We’re taking it game by game. The League Cup was wide open when Celtic went out and it’s the same with this one.”
Manager Jackie McNamara observed: “Like every manager we wanted a home draw. It could be another quarter-final at Inverness and hopefully we don’t get the same decisions.”
Gauld admitted he needed a break when McNamara sent him away for a sunshine holiday with Souttar a few weeks ago, and he’s feeling the benefit of it now.
The teenager commented: “I felt closer to my normal self. Previous games I haven’t been anywhere near what I expect from myself. I was a lot happier today.
“I feel full of energy again after my break. My energy levels were low and the week away has recharged my batteries.”
United took the lead through Gauld, and won the match early in the second half through a Nadir Ciftci header. In between times Kenny McLean scored a penalty for the visitors.
Gauld added: “We were winning week in and week out before, scoring goals for fun. We didn’t know how to lift ourselves after our first defeat but we’re back now and I thought we were excellent in spells.
“You learn more from a bad run as a young player than a good run. It’s been a big learning curve.
“There weren’t any excuses at the time for not playing as well as we could. Teams pressed us and it’s taken us a bit of time to figure it out. Hopefully that’s what we’ve done.
“I thought we were a lot better today. That’s our first win this year and hopefully we can now push on for the last part of the season.”
McNamara added: “I thought we played the game with the right intensity.
“It was disappointing to lose the goal after we had taken the lead but I’m delighted we got the second and got through to the next round.
“It was important we got back to what we’re good at, and that’s moving the ball quickly.”
The other quarter-finals are: Raith Rovers v St Johnstone, Rangers v Albion Rovers and Aberdeen v Dumbarton.