There may not be the reward of a European place at the end of it as there was last May, but Dundee United manager Peter Houston believes that finishing fourth in the SPL this season would be a more impressive accomplishment than their third in the previous campaign.
The Tannadice boss puts this down to the fact that injuries have had a much bigger effect on his squad this time around, depriving them of key defensive and creative options.
Houston said, “In a way, finishing fourth this season would be a bigger achievement than what we did in the league by finishing in third place last year.
“As far as third is concerned, Hearts are above us and need a couple of wins to stay there. So I still think they will have enough to do it.”
He added, “We’ve had Scott Severin, Garry Kenneth and Darren Dods all missing for varying lengths of time, and that’s meant having a team playing full-backs at centre-back.
“We’ve also had Danny Swanson and Craig Conway injured for long spells.”
Houston said, “The boys have dug in and got results. They deserve loads of credit for the way they have gone about their things this season.
“With the season we have had with injuries to key players it is a testament to the character and desire of the guys here that we have done so well.”Exeunt playersHouston also pointed out that not too many teams in recent history have followed up one high SPL finish with another.
He said, “After winning the cup and finishing third most sides who have a season like that suffer a dip.
“But if we finish at least fourth this season, with the injuries and the call-offs we had, it could be another fantastic season, as far as I’m concerned.
“It would have been easy for them to dip but they have not.”
Meanwhile, Houston has made it clear that he is planning for life without soon-to-be-out-of-contract trio Morgaro Gomis, Prince Buaben and Craig Conway.
He said, “I said a while back that Morgaro Gomis said he was looking to move on.
“I think all three of them are likely to look for something new this summer.”
He added, “I have been looking for players to come in and replace them and have spoken to some people but I’m not at the stage yet of signing anyone.”