Pressure On United

Last updated : 08 April 2016 By ed_ScottishFitba

C:WindowsTempphpBF6.tmpPaul Paton is looking forward to the opportunity to lead Dundee United out of relegation trouble - but he stressed that every player needed to take responsibility in a crucial finale to the season. United remain five points adrift at the foot of the Premiership ahead of a home game against Inverness on Saturday plus five more games in the regular season. Paton has captained the team in recent games with club captain Sean Dillon often starting on the bench and the midfielder has led by example, United's form improving markedly since his return from a long-term knee injury in January.
 
He said: "The gaffer has given me that responsibility and I thrive on that. I am happy to be a captain. I still very much see Sean Dillon as club captain, he is still the captain in my eyes and I still look up to him. But on the pitch I'd like to think I have always played the same way, given my all for the club. That will never stop. But if we end up staying up and I have captained the side through that, then there will be a sense of achievement there. There is pressure on everyone at the club. The players have the pressure of other people's jobs on their shoulders. They know that they have let a lot of people down this year. The only positive is we still have time to turn it around. Anybody that has stepped on the park this season has got to take responsibility, it's not been good enough. We feel as if we have players who should be winning games. We can't afford to let the club slide down. If you don't rise to that responsibility, you shouldn't be at the club. No player should want a relegation on their CV. It's embarrassing where we find ourselves, a club like Dundee United with the fanbase, what the chairman has put into the club. We shouldn't be bottom of the league, it's as simple as that. But we are and you have got to have the mental toughness to get out of that situation."
 
Meanwhile, Inverness defender Danny Devine admits it will take a perfect storm for the Highlanders to gatecrash the top six. John Hughes' side have one more game to play than the rest of the rivals aiming for a top-half Premiership finish after Tuesday's game with Hearts was postponed following a virus breakout in the Tynecastle squad. They now finish off their pre-split fixtures with Saturday's trip to basement side Dundee United before finally facing Hearts in next Tuesday's rearranged game. But Caley Thistle will have to win both games and hope for favours from elsewhere. There are a number of scenarios which would see them finish among the big guns, the most likely of which is a Dundee loss at Hamilton combined with a draw between Partick Thistle and Ross County. But even so, Devine admits his side's chances are slim.
 
Speaking ahead of the Tannadice game, the Northern Irishman said: "It's a big game on Saturday. The next two games are very big for us if we are to have any chance of the top six. It will be very difficult and it's out of our hands.  But we're treating Saturday like any other game with the mindset that we're going out to get a result. I'd say we have a slight chance of making it into the top six. We will need everything to go perfectly, for things to fall into place and go our way. But we can't think like that. We just have to go out and do our side of the bargain and get the wins."