Dundee United boss Ray McKinnon admitted he was “relieved” to hear the final whistle that confirmed his team’s place in the Irn Bru Cup final.
The Tannadice side beat Queen of the South 3-2 but what looked like being a cruise through their semi-final after they went 3-0 up before half-time turned into a nervy last few minutes when the home team launched a second half comeback.
Charlie Telfer and Scott Fraser had United two ahead in just 11 minutes, with a stronger than expected line-up grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck.
Then on 35 minutes Tony Andreu made it three, with a typically classy finish.
Stephen Dobbie reduced the deficit shortly after the restart with a near post shot that Luis Zwick would have been disappointed to see sneak past his dive.
And in the first minute of injury-time another veteran forward, Derek Lyle, tapped in from point-blank range.
United were a bit ragged in the remaining three minutes of stoppage-time but they did enough to prevent the hosts getting another shot on Zwick’s goal.
St Mirren or Welsh side The New Saints will be United’s opponents in the final.
McKinnon said: “We’re glad to be through.
“I’m a wee bit disappointed with the second half performance. We lost a couple of goals that I think were avoidable.
“But we’re happy. Queen of the South are a good, strong side so we’re delighted to win.
“I was relieved to hear that final whistle.
“It’s a good achievement for the boys after last week’s result.
“The main objective was to get to the final and we’ve done that.”
