Sixth-minute substitute Chris Erskine is determined to take out his frustration on former club Partick Thistle this afternoon.
The Dundee United man had barely broken sweat on Tuesday night when he glanced towards the touchline to see his squad number lit up on the board.
He was the unfortunate fall guy who had his match cut drastically short because of goalkeeper Michal Szromnik’s red card for fouling ICT striker Marley Watkins inside the penalty box.
The Tangerines needed Rado Cierzniak to come off the bench to replace the younger of the club’s Polish goalies and Erskine was sacrificed.
Not surprisingly, he was distraught and let his feelings show before taking his seat in the dugout.
Erskine has subsequently had a chat with the man who made the decision to take him off – manager Jackie McNamara – during which he explained why he was so bitterly disappointed.
Now the midfielder, who looks a certainty to be handed a starting jersey today at Tannadice against his old team, is ready to take it all out on Thistle.
Erskine, who was left out for recent fixtures against Motherwell, Aberdeen and St Johnstone, said: “Obviously, I am going to be unhappy at having to come off after six minutes.
“I have spoken to the gaffer about it and told him there was a build-up of frustration from me going back six games or so.
“I had a great start to the season and there were probably around five months when I did really, really well.
“Over those last six games, though, I have not featured much.
“Then I got back into the team the other night and was thinking to myself that I should have a really good game in order to get right back into things.
“After six minutes, though, I was back off the park again.
“I was praying when the board went up that it wouldn’t be me but it was.
“So it was more frustration at that more than anything else.
“I wasn’t saying: ‘Oh God, it’s me who is coming off and that’s not fair.’
“Somebody has to go off in those circumstances and more often than not it’s an attacking player.
“I maybe reacted in the wrong way but that’s what happens, isn’t it?
“You are never going to be happy coming off the pitch so early.
“Everything is sorted out now though.”
Erskine joked about not jeopardising his chances of facing the Jags today during his ICT cameo role in midweek.
He said: “I am just hoping that I didn’t do anything in those six minutes to get dropped again!
“Seriously, hopefully I will be back in the team and do well.
“I thought I had been doing well and the gaffer spoke to me about a month ago and said that he felt I had been his most consistent player.
“So it’s been surprising for me that I have been out the team but these things happen in football.
“The manager has a lot of players to keep happy.
“When you find yourself out of the side the important thing is that you do well when you get back in.
“Hopefully, that’s exactly what I will do in the Partick game.”
Erskine watched from the sidlines as the United players who stayed on the park fought hard for a decent point against Inverness.
He was impressed, saying: “I thought the boys were brilliant on Tuesday night.
“The effort they put in was brilliant and they must be tired.
“To play so long with just 10 men, they deserve a lot of credit.
Erskine is one of the flair players the fans hope can help ease the pain of losing Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven to Celtic during the transfer window.
And he stressed that the Tangerines feel they have more than enough talented men at the club to make the season a successful one.
Asked about suggestions that some critics saw the two straight defeats to Kilmarnock and St Johnstone as evidence that the remaining players were feeling sorry for themselves, he was unequivocal in his response.
He said: “I don’t think that is the case at all.
“We spoke about it at the time, when Stuart and Gary left, and we were saying that we had a lot of good players here and that those two weren’t the only ones playing for the first five months or so of the season.
“So it’s nothing to do with that and maybe it is as simple as a wee dip in form coinciding with their departures.
“We are not down about it.
“In fact, the mood is the opposite to that because we have so much to look forward to.
“It is a good time to be at the club.
“We have the match against Thistle and then come the three Celtic games, with the League Cup final in the middle of them.
“We all want to be involved in matches like that.”
“Getting the point against Inverness having had 10 men for so long was a bit of a high for us and now we want a wee bit of consistency going into the cup games.”