Dundee United won’t be going to Hibs on a downer

The end of a long unbeaten run and a second defeat in four months at a venue where they were expected to secure victory.

Defeat at Dumbarton on Saturday was a frustrating way for Dundee United to end 2016 but don’t dare suggest to anyone at Tannadice they’re going into Friday’s crunch clash with Hibs on a downer.

The Tangerines are up for this one and before they left the Cheaper Insurance Direct Stadium at the weekend the focus was 100% on what lies ahead.

That’s the message from midfielder Stewart Murdoch this week.

He had mixed emotions after the Sons clash. There was delight at returning to the starting line-up for a first league game since a knee injury suffered in September.

But there was also annoyance at seeing United’s 14-game run without a loss come to an end and three valuable points dropped.

“It was a long period out, so it was great for me to be back in the team but, obviously, in the end, the result made it a disappointing day for all of us,” said the 26-year-old.

“But that’s me back to full fitness and that was a plus. I’ll be available for selection every week and it’s important I play as many games as I can. Now we want to get back to winning ways.

“Losing was a sore one because we wanted go to Dumbarton and put down a marker, show we can go to places like that and get results.

“But the unbeaten run was always going to end at some point, it was just disappointing it was my first league game back in the starting line-up.

“It’s one of those things in football, though, you get another game coming quick. We’ve got one on Friday, so it’s a great chance for us to bounce back.”

Dwelling on the last game just a few moments longer, Murdoch is at pains to point out, as unhappy as United were with their performance, this was not an exact repeat of when they lost at Dumbarton in August on a day when the 1-0 reversal was exactly what they deserved.

“This time we were pretty much camped in their half the whole of the second half. It was frustrating we didn’t carve any great opportunities considering how much possession we had but we’ve still hit the post twice and been very close a few other times.

“Even at half-time, we could have been sitting at 0-0 knowing we’d have the wind in the second half and felt the game was there to be won — but it wasn’t to be.

“And the goal was one of these that catches the wind and everyone misses it. It was a pass and I had a couple of passes like that during the game when the wind caught the ball and it just took off.

“It was just unfortunate for us it caught their boy’s pass and ended up in the back of our net.

“It’s disappointing to lose a game on a sort of fluke goal like that but it happens sometimes.”

Since Saturday it’s been a case of what’s done is done. The only concern is getting back to the top of the table when Hibs are faced on Friday.

“The first thing we said after the game is that going to Easter Road this week gives us the perfect opportunity to go and win and get back ahead of them straight away.

“We’re looking forward to it. This is the kind of game everyone wants to be involved in and we will go there and give them a right good go.

“There is nothing to fear going there. We’ve had two great results against them already this season, so there is no reason why we can’t go there and do something similar again.”