Dundee United’s Stewart Murdoch doesn’t need anyone to tell him he blew it.
As is often the cruel fate of footballers, Murdoch even had a nationwide TV audience looking on as he blundered to hand a first-leg lead to Livingston in the Premiership play-off semi-final first leg at Tannadice on Monday.
The affable Aberdonian could have cleared his lines but instead got caught in possession, allowing Scott Pittman to race through and secure an unlikely 3-2 advantage for the West Lothian men that has made them favourites to reach the final against either Ross County or Partick Thistle.
Murdoch hasn’t gone into hiding because of it, though, and is expected to be back at the heart of United’s defence this evening alongside Bilel Mohsni for the second leg.
He said: “I obviously made a terrible mistake that led to a goal and I held my hands up in the dressing room afterwards.
“You have to stay behind each other and all the other players were great with me.
“It is not a time to start pointing fingers at people.
“Everybody has moments in a season when you don’t exactly cover yourself in glory.
“I am more than honest and admit I made a shocking mistake,” added Murdoch.
“We have another shot at it, though.
“You have to try to take the positives out of it and we had been in control of the game and created most of the chances.
“Everything was leaning towards us going on and scoring a third.
“We got hit by a couple of sucker blows but the only way we can get over that is to go down there and win.
“Looking back, we should have come off the pitch with, at worst a 2-1 victory.
“Until they equalised we felt so comfortable.”
Murdoch is ready for another bruising encounter with Livi after what was a really tough Tannadice clash.
He added: “What Livingston do very well is battle and they play a very direct game.
“We have to deal with that.
“So it will be a physical battle but as we showed on Monday night we can play some good football and need to take our chances.
“Games aren’t always won by the better footballing side, though, and it can often be the team that show most fight that end up winning. We have to make sure that team is us.”
