Dundee United manager Mixu Paatelainen said his players’ amazing Scottish Cup win over Ross County shows they have the fight to “save the season”.
The 10-man Tangerines came back from 2-1 down to clinch a semi-final place with a dramatic late winner from Billy Mckay.
And Mixu said the fact they wouldn’t even settle for a draw proves they have the stomach to win their relegation battle.
Paatelainen praised his players, saying: “They showed tremendous character, but it’s nothing new to me.
“This was an unbelievable effort from them, unbelievable spirit and togetherness. This gives us, again, loads of confidence.”
He added: “The last few weeks our matches and the way we’ve performed has been good, better, and that has improved our belief that we can save the season. A result like this, being a man down against a very, very good Ross County team gives us so much.”
County boss Jim McIntyre rued the inability of his side to beat 10 men – the third time that has happened this season.
He said: “We got ourselves in a great position and we’ve thrown it away. You have to give United credit but we’ve allowed three crosses into the box, two far too easily. Basically, we never did our jobs. I expect with the experience we’ve got to be able to handle those situations, it wasn’t good enough today. That’s three times this season we’ve been done by 10 men.”