Dundee United still in the title race, says Telfer

There’s no hiding the feeling of disappointment in the Dundee United dressing-room this week.

A 3-0 defeat in the big Championship clash with leaders Hibs on Friday was without question a low point of the season.

But there is also an air of determination as the Tangerines players pick themselves up and set about proving they remain genuine contenders for automatic promotion at the end of the campaign.

The Easter Road loss means United are now four points off the top but defiant midfielder Charlie Telfer believes that’s a gap they can eat into quickly.

His attitude is very much “we’ve done it before, we can do it again”.

Telfer pointed out: “Earlier in the season the gap was much bigger than it is now.

“So it’s not over. Four points behind Hibs just now is not what we wanted but we’ve turned over a much bigger deficit already this season and got to the top of the league.

“We know we can do it again and there are plenty games left.

“The gaffer was saying there are 17 games to go to win the league and get promoted. We believe we are capable of that.

“We have another game against Hibs at home to come and that is going to be massive.

“Hopefully, we can get ourselves in the position we did when they came to us in December and we beat them to go level on points at the top.

“We are definitely confident we can do that.”

What Telfer doesn’t do in the midst of that fighting talk is deflect from the fact Friday was a let-down.

Backed by more than 2,300 of their own fans in the capital, the Tangerines went in believing they could get three points that would have put them back on top of the table.

It didn’t happen and no one is making any excuses for a poor 90-minute show.

“We weren’t good enough in the first 25 minutes and we have paid for that,” added Telfer.

“Then we didn’t create enough chances to get back in the game, so we can’t complain about the result.

“All round it was just poor from us, we’ve got just so much more to give than we showed.”

Particularly painful was the way one of the meanest defences in the country conceded cheap goals.

“We gave away easy goals and that’s not something we’ve been doing this season.

“It’s credit to the back four and the team as a whole for the way we’ve defended but this time a lack of concentration and mistakes have caused us this defeat and that’s disappointing.

“We didn’t do what we’ve been doing brilliantly and it didn’t happen this time.”

Work to get back to keep clean sheets is under way in training and Telfer is also enjoying getting to know new signing Thomas Mikkelsen.

The forward is on loan from Danish side Odense and Charlie believes his arrival is sending out a firm statement about the club’s ambitions.

“You look at Hibs and they’ve got depth to their squad, and it’s good we are aiming for the same.

“We do have a great squad here but everything can always be better, so it’s right the manager has added another player.

“We brought in the big man on Friday and, although he only got 10 minutes, we’ve not really seen anything of him.

“It’s hard to come on when a game’s like that but he’ll get to work with us this week and I am sure he is going to be very useful and add another dimension to our game.”