Dedication nose no bounds for Dundee United's Lewis Toshney

Toshney took the hit for the Tangerines earlier this month behind closed doors in a pre-season friendly with Highland League outfit Cove Rangers which forced him to go to hospital for treatment to ease the pain.

The 24-year-old former Celtic player, who joined forces again with boss Ray McKinnon following his summer move from Raith Rovers, was told by medics an operation would rule him out of action for several weeks.

And Toshney, who’s ready to play through the pain barrier in today’s final League Cup group tie with Dunfermline at Tannadice, admits the prospect of being idle during such exciting times for United convinced him to postpone surgery until he’s no longer playing.

Toshney said: “It’s fine now. They said if I was to get it fixed I would be out for four to six weeks. But I didn’t want to be out injured to be honest when I was playing. I’m just going to leave it and get it fixed after my career.

“It’s still a bit sore. I got a wee knock on it against Cowdenbeath. It started bleeding again. It was just the slightest knock and I thought it was away again. It’s part and parcel of the game nowadays.

“I’ve just got to take it on the chin and get on with it. It feels alright. It doesn’t affect me during game and I still go in for challenges.”

Toshney is just one of manager McKinnon’s seven summer signings as the new-look Taysiders set their sights on winning a quick-fire return to the Premiership this season following the pain of relegation back in May.

The big Dundonian detects a new lease of life among both players and supporters alike and reckons that renewed optimism can transmit it itself onto the pitch for the entire season as they look to progress to the knock-out stages at home to the Pars today.

He said: “Most of my friends are Dundee United fans, living in the city. They are much more positive now. The difference from last season is night and day.

“I don’t know what the team were like last season as I didn’t play against them. But this season – even in training – there’s just a buzz about the players. Personally, I can feel it as well. United are a massive club. Getting relegated was a downer for the fans. But our job now collectively is to get us back up to where we belong.

“We’ll be rallying together to try and do that and all the boys are determined to get up and challenge for this league.”

Toshney has urged his team-mates to get off to a flier when they welcome Queen of the South to Tannadice for Saturday’s curtain-raiser, and knows qualifying for the latter stages of the League Cup with victory over Dunfermline would further swell the feelgood factor. He said: “It’s massively important to get off to a good start. That’s what we’ll be looking to do. We’ve got Queen of the South at home, then Dumbarton away, Ayr United at home, followed by Raith Rovers away. We’re a massive club so we will be looking to win those four games to get things under way.

“Dunfermline will be tough opponents too but if we can get into the knock-out stages it will be another big boost.”