Dundee United and Raith Rovers fully aware of magnitude of Tannadice clash

The top two clash in such a significant match in terms of Championship title destination

A veritable argument can be made for the match of the day in Scotland taking place outside of the Premiership.

The top two in the cinch Championship meet for the final time this season at Tannadice on Saturday when league leaders Dundee United host Raith Rovers, who lie in second spot, a point behind but with a game in hand. The visitors have not lost to Jim Goodwin’s team all season and have won the past two encounters. A bumper crowd of more than 10,000 is expected, although there will be less than 1500 of a Raith persuasion after the build-up was played out under the shadow of a ticketing row.

The pressure is on Goodwin and his players given they are the favourites to win the league. However, he is not taking Raith lightly. “Raith Rovers have done brilliantly; recruited really well and with a good injection of finance,” said Goodwin. “You can see they’ve been able to bring in a really good quality of player,” explained Goodwin. “We were always going to be everybody’s favourites because of the size of the club. Raith Rovers are no mugs. We didn’t under-estimate them at the start of the season. I saw the players they were signing, the increase in their budget and I knew they would be a decent team.

Dundee United's Kai Fotheringham and Raith's Liam Dick will come up against each other once more at Tannadice.

“There is pressure on everybody at both ends of the table. You have to enjoy that as players and as staff. You’ve got to relish being in big games like this. It takes strong characters. It takes good players who can play in those pressure situations and we have proven that for the majority of the season, that we are capable. “We have just been a bit inconsistent of late.”

Rovers boss Ian Murray knows just how big a match this is. “It probably is the biggest game in Scotland this weekend, in terms of what’s at stake,” he said. “Even then, it’s still going to be really close after the game, regardless of what happens. It’s going to be close like this until the end of the season. It’s been like this pretty much all the way, so I don’t see it changing too much. It should be a really good game. And, in terms of where we are in the season and it being top versus second, probably the biggest in Scotland.”