Glenn Middleton insists his stunning free-kick against Peterhead was a case of practice makes perfect.
The Dundee United winger smashed home the opening goal at Balmoor from all of 35 yards, settling any early nerves as United booked their place in the SPFL Trust Trophy quarter-finals.
Tony Watt made the game safe with a sumptuous curling effort in the second period.
And Middleton’s effort reflected the extra hours spent on the training pitch, with the former St Johnstone and Rangers ace confessing to a sense of frustration that he hasn’t racked up a bigger tally of set-piece strikes.
Glenn Middleton a' faighinn tadhal tràth dha Dundee United an aghaidh Peterhead!
Glenn Middleton scores an early free kick for Dundee United! pic.twitter.com/jSrehxSkXj
— BBC ALBA (@bbcalba) October 14, 2023
“I do practice them quite a lot so it’s always nice when they come off,” said Middleton.
“I feel I should have scored a couple more.
“There was one I scored last year at home to Kilmarnock and one at start of this season at home to Partick that went just wide — that still annoys me!
“I take a lot of pride in it.”
He added: “It was good to get that early goal and, although that can sometimes go both ways — sometimes you can take your foot off the pedal — we kept doing the right things.
“All that mattered was going up there and getting through to the next round.”
Eye on the prize
Indeed, United’s win could, and perhaps should, have been more handsome.
Louis Moult was denied by Blue Toon keeper Stuart McKenzie twice while in one-on-one situations, and Ross Graham saw a shot cleared off the line.
Nevertheless, the Championship leaders got the job done in relatively serene fashion, leaving them in the hat for next week’s draw.
Middleton is a Scottish Cup winner with St Johnstone and, while it would be disingenuous to seriously compare the SPFL Trust Trophy with that honour, his desire to go all the way and lift another piece of silverware is no less strong.
“A trophy’s a trophy and when you look back on your career, nobody can take that away from you,” he continued. “As long as we keep doing the work in these games, we’ll try and take our quality forward.”
Next up: Firhill
As well as securing their place in the last-eight, the victory at Balmoor extended United’s unbeaten run in all competitions to 12 games; perfect preparation for a mouth-watering Championship clash at Partick Thistle next weekend.
“We have the utmost respect for every team we come up against and that (unbeaten) record speaks for itself,” he added.
“Next week is massive and the gaffer reiterated that as soon as we got back in the changing room (at Peterhead). We know what in will take to go there next Saturday and get three points.
“We’re showing week-in, week-out that we have game-plans and when we stick to them we get positive results.”
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