Dundee United hero Nadir Ciftci claimed revenge wasn’t a factor for him as the Tangerines destroyed Inverness Caley Thistle to set up a William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final meeting with Rangers or Albion Rovers.
It was 5-0 to the visitors in this last-eight clash at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium and it could have been even more.
Ciftci got a double, while the other goals came from Gavin Gunning from the penalty spot, Gary Mackay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong.
It was a masterclass from the Turk and his joy was in stark contrast to the misery of the League Cup quarter-final in the Highland capital last October when he was red-carded and then later cited by the SFA for supposedly grabbingassistant referee Gavin Harris by the throat.
He claimed, though, that what happened back then wasn’t on his mind.
“I am delighted that we won today and I think it was a great performance from the guys,” said Ciftci.
“I am just happy that we won this game. That other game was gone it was in the past. It was all about the next match and doing the right things in order to get into the next round.
“What I had to think about was the present not the past.”
Cifcti wasn’t even bothered by the presence of Harris on the line.
“I wasn’t concerned because he does his job and I do mine,” he said.
“In fact, we shook each other’s hand after the game.”
Now Cifti and his colleagues are a significant step closer to lifting the trophy that the Tangerines claimed in 2010.
He added: “If we do the things we are good at we are unstoppable, I think. We are all looking forward to the semi-final now. There is more to come from this team.”
Tannadice manager Jackie McNamara, who admitted he had a calming word in Ciftci’s ear pre-match, was understandably overjoyed with such an emphatic result.
He said: “I thought we were the better team, regardless of their sendings-off. We lost in the League Cup up here, of course, and we learned the hard way in that game.
“We matched them for effort and commitment. It was about keeping our discipline, not getting frustrated and winning the one-on-one battles.”