DUFC 2 HFC 2

United and Hibs will do it all again after the two teams battled to a fairly entertaining draw on Sunday in the cup.

The extra incentive for both teams is the draw was kind with a trip to Alloa to face BSC Glasgow in the next round.

If I'm being honest I would expect Hibs to finish the job off at Easter Road. They were the better team on Sunday and, while not quite as dominant as the BBC would have had us believe, they were definitely on top for large chunks of the game.

I think we were always going to struggle with the step up and I'm going to criticise Neilson here. You can't fault him for what he's done with the team and our league position is fantastic and credit to him for that. But if I do have a criticism of him as a manager then it's the fact that he all too often sets his team up to stop the opposition rather than to play to our own strengths - he did that again on Sunday. He put out a team to stop Hibs and it left us completely imbalanced, particularly in midfield where we were all over the place. I also felt he was slow with the subs and would have had Glass on much earlier than 10 minutes to go.

The other criticism that Neilson deserves is that he perhaps started too many players who were lacking fitness. Robson was dreadful throughout and was at fault for both goals, and didn't look fit. Connolly hasn't played much of late, Powers completed his second game in months, Pawlett has never been fit in his life and this was his first start since returning from his latest injury and I thought McMullan still doesn't look fully fit. I was surprised he didn't play Reynolds and frustrated (but not surprised) he went with Pawlett ahead of Glass.

We did battle back twice though and credit to the players for that. What can you say about the finish from Shankland though? He wasn't in the game much, such was our poor service, but the composure to slot home was just incredible. He's the most reliable finisher I've ever seen at Tannadice and I was very pleased he got his goal. Then of course the finish from Appere was sublime, although I do wonder what the keeper was doing as it looked saveable.

All in all a good game and hopefully United can find a way through in the replay.

So what did we learn ahead of next season in (hopefully) the Premiership?

Siegrist - stand out keeper in the second tier and better than most Premiership goalies.
Smith - I like him but he perhaps needs to improve again to be an effective top flight performer.
Connolly - I wonder if he's good enough. Probably okay for bottom six, but top six? Probably not.
Watson - As above
Robson - I think he should be okay, still needs to continue to improve.
Harkes - Worries me if I'm honest. I like him, think he's got good attributes, but he struggles to put it all together in games too often. Hopefully with his missus signing for Celtic's women's team he'll settle better.
Powers - Very tidy in possession but lacks pace. Needs to play centrally and not left of a three, shuttling out to wide players.
Butcher - Been a revelation this season, enjoys a yellow card. He'll be fine.
Pawlett - Apparently great in the dressing room with the younger players, but he's finished as a player.
McMullan - He should have looked at Boyle's performance yesterday and learned from it. Boyle was doing everything he should have done.
Shankland - Hero and no worries whatsoever.


Players we won't be using next season will be Sam Stanton and Cammy Smith, with both players set to leave the club. Stanton is heading off to the second tier of US football, while Smith is on trial with Dundalk.

Mon the Terrors