DUNDEE UNITED keeper Tony Bullock admits he would swop a first ever cup final appearance for league safety, writes Jim Davie and Graeme Dey.

Next month’s Tennent’s Scottish Cup clash with Celtic at Hampden will be the biggest game of Bullock’s career.

Yet he says he would gladly give that up if United could be guarantee SPL survival.

“It’s a great feeling to be in a cup final, it’s probably the best feeling I’ve had in football, but I would definitely trade the cup final for more league points,” he claimed.

“The cup final is a one-off occasion, but the league is the bread and butter.

“If we’re relegated the week before it’s going to be a hard one to take, but we’ve got the character and the quality of player to get ourselves out of this situation.’’

United have had little opportunity to revel in Saturday’s semi-final triumph over Hibs. They trained Sunday and again yesterday and tonight it’s back to the league grind and an Ibrox clash with title-chasing Rangers.

On paper, that’s a fixture which offers little hope of the Tangerines easing their drop fears, but Bullock believes that between recent performances and the result the last time they visited Govan his club have cause for optimism—even if the last meeting of the teams saw Rangers romp to a 7-1 CIS Cup semi-final victory.

“Rangers are a formidable side at Ibrox but we went there earlier in the season and got a 1-1 draw when Barry Robson scored in the last minute from a free kick,’’ he said.

“We can take confidence from that as we can the displays against Celtic and Hibs lately.

“We’re going to go out with spirit and getting to the final has given us a great boost. We can take that into the match.

“They are a very good side but if we’re on top of our game and they’re not so up for their game you never know, we could sneak away with a point or even a win.’’

Caretaker boss Gordon Chisholm yesterday set about retraining United’s sights on league matters.

“Saturday was a memorable day for myself personally and everyone at the club,’’ said Chisholm.

“But we cannot afford to take our eye off the ball and I’ve spoken to the players this morning about putting thoughts of the cup final out of our heads until the start of the week leading up to it.

“No-one expects us to go to Ibrox and get something but we’ve already drawn there this season and were very unlucky not to beat Rangers here on New Year’s Day.

“We’ve just got to try and put in another performance against them.

“It’ll be tough with Rangers going for the title but this match is just as important for us as it is for them.’’

Skipper Derek McInnes is ruled out by suspension and Chisholm has fitness doubts over Mark Wilson, Stuart Duff, Grant Brebner and Barry Robson, though he expects that quartet to make the game.

“They were restricted to light work today,’’ Chisholm added. “But they only have slight knocks and I’m hopeful.’’

Rangers defender Maurice Ross has recovered from a groin injury but Thomas Buffel (calf) and Marvin Andrews (knee) are still sidelined while Barry Ferguson and Bojan Djordjic are both suspended.