Dundee Utd 0
St Mirren 0
League (Premier Division)

Manager's Programme Notes

This afternoon heralds yet another in our sequence of vital league outings when a clearly confident St Mirren are our visitors to Tannadice. Their form of late has been highly impressive and that marvellous return from their first leg of the Anglo-Scottish Cup final at Bristol earlier this week will doubtless have sent the confidence of the side soaring even higher. I have long reckoned that the Love Street men are the best football-playing side in the country and therefore see their recent rise to a challenging position in the league as no great surprise. Considering their end to last term and their below-par start to this one, it really is remarkable the job that Jim Clunie has completed on the side, transforming it into its current potent mixture of youth and experience. Mind you, in so saying, today's occasion is probably more vital to ourselves than to our visitors and the fact remains that there are points available here which would undoubtedly aid our escape route from the trouble zone. Therefore the maximum rewards open to us this afternoon would prove invaluable in taking some of the pressure off the players — and that must be the sole aim of every tangerine-clad player afield.

Recent performances and results have not been as we would have wished and one of the most important messages I can get across to everyone at this present time is that we simply cannot bank on others to see us through this troublesome time. Away from the pressures of the Premier Division it was marvellous to see our own Dave Narey get the opportunity to fill his normal central defensive role in a Scotland international jersey against Portugal on Wednesday night. And congratulations are due too to our reserve squad who have eased their way through to the semi-final stages of both their League Cup and Scottish Cup — despite a drop in performance lately. I feel certain that on their own admission some of the regulars at that grade would not argue with the fact that their form has slumped in recent outings. Sadly, I feel that some of the young players appear to think that the season is drawing to a close even this early. I warn them that their ideas had better change — and quickly !