He was arguably lucky to be among them but Calum Butcher reckoned that the way Dundee United's nine men held out and might even have won yesterday gives them a crucial edge going into next week's League Cup final.

The midfielder was a central figure in the early incident that resulted in Paul Paton being sent off along with Celtic's Virgil Van Dijk and given that linesman Graham Chambers decreed that a United player had done something that merited a red card he was certainly more culpable than his blameless looking clubmate.

However he not only stayed afield he came close to winning it and believes the way United performed with only nine men on the pitch for almost the entire second half may play on the minds of opponents they will now play four times in the space of 14 days.

"I've never played against a team four times in succession, but I think mentally we've got one over on them definitely," he said.

"We 100 per cent believe we can win the final. We're full of confidence. We had nine men at one stage and we're disappointed not to win the game.

"We worked our socks off and that takes character. With 11 we can definitely beat them in the final."

He believed they might also have got through yesterday's tie had his own energy not been drained by the efforts required to stay in the match when nine men had so much ground to cover.

"I was tired at the time," Butcher said of the chance which came his way.

"It was on my left foot and I tried to put my foot around it but I was just so tired I took a swing at it.

"We were hemmed in for the majority of the second half and did really well, but going in there we were disappointed not to win the game because we defended heroically. I think we deserved to win."

Questions having been asked about United's resolve given their loss of form since two of their leading players, Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven, were bought by Celtic, Butcher suggested yesterday's performance was the ideal response.

"That's for the manager," he said.

"We're working as hard as we can and you saw out there today how together we are. Even when Nadir scored we went up to the gaffer. We're all together in this."

In spite of the likelihood of his clash with Van Dijk and the resultant fall-out being reviewed he offered to show the stud marks that had been inflicted on him before saying he does not think any punishment will be coming his way, while he expressed confidence that Paton will also be available for the big games to come.

"I thought my challenge was fine. I'm just heart-broken for Paul because he's a big part of our team so it was disappointing that he got sent off," said Butcher.

"Paul's come over and tried to calm it down if anything and the referee's gone over and given him the red card.

"Definitely I think the club are looking at that and they should."

That togetherness also came through when he was asked about Celtic manager Ronnie Deila's accusations that Aidan Connolly had dived to earn United the penalty that allowed Nadir Ciftci to give them the lead in first half injury time.

"I was far away from that, I think I was on the halfway line at the time, but Aidan's not a diver so I don't know why he would say that," he said.

Amid all that was happening the penalty awarded to Celtic and resultant sending off of Paul Dixon for charging the ball down was probably the least controversial but it did result in the game's one moment of on-field penitence as Leigh Griffiths apologised to supporters for missing the resultant spot kick.

"I apologised because I never scored it. I was taking penalties all day yesterday and never missed a single one," he said.

"Maybe I should have left it! I held my hands up as soon as I missed it because it's my fault."

However he took satisfaction from subsequently holding his nerve when the next opportunity arose.

""I knew we were going to get more chances in the game, especially with them going down to nine men," he said.

"It was one-way traffic and it was just about trying to get that opening and get a goal.

"I had the chance to get us back in with the penalty but I've missed it, but I managed to pick myself back up with the header.

"After that I thought there was only going to be one winner."