After half a year of Saturdays spent in a gym, in front of a television, or traipsing around the shops, Dundee United midfielder John Rankin is a footballer reborn.
“We battled to get our lead and then showed great character to go on and win the game after we were pegged back.
“In the past we’ve drawn games we should have won but we were determined as a group of players that wasn’t going to happen again.
“Our away form had been pretty good but the results at home had definitely been poor.”
After Lauri Dalla Valle drilled home their opener on 13 minutes, United had the platform for this match to have been a great deal more comfortable than it turned out to be.
However their lead was cancelled out just three minutes later by Nick Ross from close range and, for the remainder of the opening period the visitors gave as good as they got.
They couldn’t quite see out the half however, as on 44 minutes livewire Danny Swanson took advantage of hesitancy from Roman Golobart to nip in and get on the end of a Rankin crossfield pass and lob Ryan Esson, who was stranded in no man’s land.
Shortly after the restart the same United duo linked up and Swanson was denied this time by a diving Esson save. Seconds later the Caley Thistle keeper was once more at full stretch to deal with a Gavin Gunning drive from over 40 yards out.
Terry Butcher’s men were still a danger and Gregory Tade forced Dusan Pernis to block with his feet from a tight angle just after the hour mark.
Jon Daly’s introduction on 70 minutes ended the match as an even contest however. The Irishman rose to head home a Paul Dixon cross from the left with his first touch of the match.
United boss Peter Houston reflected: “We scored three good goals. Lauri’s finish was excellent. Danny Swanson was maybe the only player who would have scored the second goal. He’s our magic dust.
“And Jonny Daly has scored goals for years from crosses coming into the box and we got the right delivery for him for our third.
Butcher said: “The game was there for the taking. In spells we played some lovely football but in other spells we looked like we could concede more. We didn’t get it right at either end.”
That was the length of time a fully fit Rankin in the prime of his career was frozen out of the first team picture at Hibs.
The Manchester United youth product admitted that the morale-sapping experience has given him a taste of life without the game he loves, and he didn’t like it one little bit.
Now the 28-year-old is determined to make the most of his Tannadice opportunity and ensure that Saturday afternoons are gainfully employed for a long time.
Rankin, who helped United to a 3-1 win against former club Inverness Caledonian Thistle at the weekend, said: “The manager has shown a lot of faith to bring me here when I hadn’t played for six months.
“There were other players who he could have signed who would have played in that time but he told me where he wanted to take the club and he showed how keen he was to bring me here.
“Those last few months at Hibs were a difficult time but I’ve put it behind me. I’m now looking forward to the next chapter in my career at Dundee United and I’m really enjoying it so far.
“I’m playing with a smile on my face again. When you train all week and there’s no end product on a Saturday it’s not easy. On Saturdays I’d be in the gym in the morning.
“Then it was either a case of watching Jeff Stelling and the boys on Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday or going round the shops with my fiancee before our wedding in the summer. It could have ended the marriage!
“It was actually hard even watching Soccer Saturday because I missed playing so much.
“It showed me how desperate I was to be back playing. Lesser characters might have struggled but I was determined to come out the other side of it.
“It was an eye opener. There were a lot of people on the scrapheap in the summer and I had a glimpse of it. It’s made me hungrier and I’m delighted with the way things are going now.”
As he explained, Rankin had to wait a long time to get back into competitive action. Since he arrived in Tayside, he’s also had to be patient to get a home win in the SPL with his new club.
The Caley Thistle victory was the Tangerines’ first of the season, and it came at the fifth time of asking.
Before then Kilmarnock, St Mirren, Dunfermline and Rangers had all left Tannadice with at least a point and Rankin pointed out: “That win was long overdue.
“We’ve been dominant in home matches but haven’t managed to take the three points.
Continued…
That was the length of time a fully fit Rankin in the prime of his career was frozen out of the first team picture at Hibs.
The Manchester United youth product admitted that the morale-sapping experience has given him a taste of life without the game he loves, and he didn’t like it one little bit.
Now the 28-year-old is determined to make the most of his Tannadice opportunity and ensure that Saturday afternoons are gainfully employed for a long time.
Rankin, who helped United to a 3-1 win against former club Inverness Caledonian Thistle at the weekend, said: “The manager has shown a lot of faith to bring me here when I hadn’t played for six months.
“There were other players who he could have signed who would have played in that time but he told me where he wanted to take the club and he showed how keen he was to bring me here.
“Those last few months at Hibs were a difficult time but I’ve put it behind me. I’m now looking forward to the next chapter in my career at Dundee United and I’m really enjoying it so far.
“I’m playing with a smile on my face again. When you train all week and there’s no end product on a Saturday it’s not easy. On Saturdays I’d be in the gym in the morning.
“Then it was either a case of watching Jeff Stelling and the boys on Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday or going round the shops with my fiancee before our wedding in the summer. It could have ended the marriage!
“It was actually hard even watching Soccer Saturday because I missed playing so much.
“It showed me how desperate I was to be back playing. Lesser characters might have struggled but I was determined to come out the other side of it.
“It was an eye opener. There were a lot of people on the scrapheap in the summer and I had a glimpse of it. It’s made me hungrier and I’m delighted with the way things are going now.”
As he explained, Rankin had to wait a long time to get back into competitive action. Since he arrived in Tayside, he’s also had to be patient to get a home win in the SPL with his new club.
The Caley Thistle victory was the Tangerines’ first of the season, and it came at the fifth time of asking.
Before then Kilmarnock, St Mirren, Dunfermline and Rangers had all left Tannadice with at least a point and Rankin pointed out: “That win was long overdue.
“We’ve been dominant in home matches but haven’t managed to take the three points.
Continued…