Dundee Utd 1
Hibernian 0
League (Premier Division)

Manager's Programme Notes

Weather permitting of course, this afternoon should see a return of Premier League football to Tannadice for the first time since late December. Today's visitors are of course a Hibs' side which has undergone, for them, a particularly lean rime of it this season. Mind you, as I have always drummed into our players there is no such thing. as anything resembling an easy touch at this level of the game and despite their current bottom of the table spot the Easter Road side have been starting to pick up results of late. Anyway, as far as we ourselves are concerned, our own Premier League table spot just above Hibs is one which could be doing with improvement and therefore a victory today is a must. Still, at the back of my mind, I_ will always be worrying about what Eddie Turnbull is planning to aid the Hibs cause. I have always held the Easter Road boss high in my estimations in the business and even if we are leading at the interval today I will be wondering just exactly what he is contriving to offset things in the visiting dressing-room. As far as our own current form is concemed it would appear that our old failing of lack of penetration has returned like an unwanted friend.

Last week-end in our Scottish Cup defeat by Rangers at Ibrox the message was there for everyone to see, the failure of those in our midfield to get into finishing positions in the area. But I do not go along with those who inferred that we "froze" once again when faced by one of the Old Firm. In fact nothing could be further from the truth. It has taken me a long, long time to convince the players here at Tannadice that we are as good and often better equipped that the big two from the west — and" last week at Ibrox the players believed it! I have never known a Dundee United side of recent seasons to have gone in in opposition to any of the Old Firm clubs so brimful of confidence. But the fact still remains that we lost when the opportunity was there for further cup advancement this season . . . and that simply is not good enough. We were eliminated from the cup, not because there was any psychological "reason affecting the players, but because no provincial side going to Ibrox can afford to let Rangers off the hook.