Blair Spittal confident Dundee United can rescue season

Dundee Uniteds Henri Anier grabbed a second-half double. Picture: SNS Group

The 20-year-old midfielder, who supplied the cross for Billy Mckay’s last-minute winner, has been one of the club’s top performers in recent weeks.

County’s position looked impregnable when they led 2-1 with 30 minutes to go after a Liam Boyce opener and a Brian Graham penalty.

But despite having Mark Durnan sent off for a last-man challenge on Graham, United not only levelled the scores with Henri Anier’s second of the tie, but went on to book their place in the semi-finals thanks to a brave diving header from Mckay right at the death.

Spittal said: “Today everybody believed we could get through to the semi-final. It was a big chance to lift our season a bit. It hasn’t been the best but we are absolutely delighted to get through.

“We were disappointed with Wednesday night’s performance against Aberdeen, it was way below the standard we had set over the past couple of months. It was all about putting that right.”

He added: “We had a couple of setbacks but the desire was there from everyone to bounce back, especially with ten men towards the end. I thought we had that extra belief and thankfully Billy’s goal put us through to the semi.”

Spittal says the players are confident they can climb out of their present predicament. “We are fully confident we can go on a run in the league now and can also get through to the cup final,” he said.

Ross County midfielder Jackson Irvine was bitterly disappointed at losing to ten men for the third time this  season.

County had already lost to Hearts and Aberdeen in similar circumstances.

He said: “It’s not good enough. We need to be more professional. We need to defend better, everybody is extremely frustrated and disappointed. Fair play to Dundee United for kicking on with ten-men and winning the game but it’s not good from our point of view.”

Irvine admitted he was anxious about the number of goals County were conceding.

He said: “Scoring goals has never been an issue in this team. It’s the goals at the other end of the park that seem to be causing us all the problems. Scoring two goals at home that should be enough to win a tie, especially against ten men.”

However, Irvine says the County players can now fully focus on Sunday’s League Cup final against Hibernian.

He said: “We can turn our focus on the final now. It has obviously been in the back of people’s minds for the last few weeks.”