Well it’s the second of a sequence of three home games on Saturday when Kilmarnock are the visitors for a fixture which could see us move significantly up the SPL table come the end of the afternoon dependant on the results of other games, notably the one which sees Aberdeen play Livingston – a draw here and a victory for United would see us leapfrog both teams in the table.
One of my friends has sadly reminded me that Kilmarnock are still a “bogey” team for us at Tannadice, with a victory in 1996-7 season being our last against the Ayshire outfit.
I fully expect that statistic to be blown out of the water come 4.45pm on Saturday as I see no reason why we shouldn’t win this game.
Sure there are lots of areas where there is room for improvement in the team’s performance but it’s starting to look like the good old days with Andy McLaren operating on the right wing – I sincerely hope McCall acts suitably promptly to get him signed up on a longer deal than his current one, which only takes him to January if memory serves me right.
He was voted man of the match on Tuesday night by the match sponsors and I can’t say I disagreed with that, though my personal vote went to Jim Paterson who is approaching top form again with stopovers galore and perhaps more importantly some probing runs from midfield towards the penalty box. Unfortunately a knock sustained in the CIS tie means he may be missing on Saturday. Still every cloud has a silver lining and perhaps Easton will make a come back!
Up front I expect McCall to persevere with his starting duo of McIntyre and Scotland, though Samuel may well be pushing for a starting berth at the expense of his countryman.
I’m not so sure whether McCall will tinker with the defence however – even if Scott Paterson is fully fit I don’t expect him to make it into the starting eleven – one goal conceded in three matches makes a pleasant change from the start of the season and all at once our goal difference is starting to look a little less gruesome than it did a couple of games ago!
The crowd can play an important part on Saturday by getting fully behind the team – we were sadly lacking in this department midweek and I hope we’ll all be in full voice on Saturday as we close the gap on the wee team to three points!