United they fell but Daly keen to stay tall this time

Sports Writer

Thursday 2 August 2012

THE name Dundee United once spread fear throughout Europe but in recent times the continental stage has been nothing but a theatre of cruelty for the club's followers.

Jon Daly wants Dundee United to make a similar start tonight to the one they made against Slask Wroclaw, with the striker helping his side ease 3-1 ahead. Picture: SNS

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Stewart Fisher

The team that made European Cup semi-finals and Uefa Cup finals during the 1980s has quietly gone 15 years without winning a European tie, a run that stretches back to the 17-0 aggregate humbling of Andorran minnows CE Principat.

It is a record Jon Daly is desperate to atone for when the Tannadice side return to Europa League action against Russian giants Dinamo Moscow tonight, but the agony of excruciatingly narrow defeats in this competition in each of the last two seasons remains etched upon the Irishman's memory. Back in 2010-11, a late Danny Swanson effort was the width of a post away from taking United through against AEK Athens, while 12 months back the club roared to a 3-1 lead against eventual Polish champions Slask Wroclaw, only for the Poles to knock in a 35-yard wonder goal and progress via the away goals rule."It still bothers me about how we've gone out in the last two years, I still think about it," admitted Daly. "You work hard all season, play 38 games and try and qualify for Europe. You want to have more than just one tie, you want to have more to show for your efforts. In the last two seasons, we have been very unlucky against AEK and Slask. That was tough to take. It nags away at you and you try to get on with it. But this is an opportunity for us to try and put that right."As opportunities go, however, this isn't exactly a glaring one. Dinamo, the old Soviet interior ministry club, lavished €19m this summer to bring Balazs Dzsudzsak, the Hungarian winger, from PSV Eindhoven and paid an undisclosed fee for Croatian centre-back Gordon Schildenfeld, one of the stand-out performers of Euro 2012. They may have lost both of their league matches so far this season but other star turns in their ranks include Kevin Kuranyi, the veteran German striker, Luke Wilkshire, the former Middlesburgh midfielder and Roman Berezovskiy, the veteran Armenian international goalkeeper. There shouldn't be a huge gap in terms of fitness between the two teams, as the Russian Premier League has reverted this year to a conventional July to May calendar. There may be, however, in terms of preparation: Paul Hegarty took in the club's 2-0 defeat against Zenit St Petersburg at the weekend but United's forensic approach stands in marked contrast to that of their opponents, who as of Tuesday hadn't attended any matches or inquired for a solitary DVD. "It does help because you get to know players from the international scene," said Peter Houston, the United manager. "For example, the Moscow No.3. Schildenfeld, although he didn't play against Zenit I saw him play in the European Championships. I also have a dossier of the boy Wilkshire because Scotland are playing Australia later this month. Mick Oliver has been doing a lot of reports for the Scottish national team and he has told me all about him. These things are important. You get to learn about players and the Scottish thing enables you to see club players playing for their country. I see it as a huge benefit."They have two real competitive games under their belt, albeit they have lost both matches," he added. "But I am happy with our fitness and sharpness. We are ready."Daly – along with Sean Dillon, one of only two survivors from the team which played against Athens – scored 22 goals last season and feels he can score against anyone. His countrymen Shamrock Rovers are a good example of a side who refused to read the script as they went on to book their place in last season's group stages. "I go into every game believing I can score goals and this is no different," the 29-year-old said. "They're under a bit of pressure and maybe we can use that to our advantage. They've lost 1-0 and 2-0 in their opening two league games so it's been a tough start to their campaign. I look at what Shamrock Rovers achieved last year. They got to the group stages and played some massive games."United have no real injury concerns for the tie, with Gary Mackay-Steven and Willo Flood likely to declare themselves fit after minor back problems, and the Tannadice side feel attack will be the best form of attack. "We're looking to come out of the blocks quickly, just as we did against Slask at home this year, when we found ourselves 2-0 up inside the first 15 minutes," said Daly. "We know they've bought a player for the kind of money which could buy our club but we have to forget about the price tags."

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United they fell but Daly keen to stay tall this time

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