Jackie McNamara paid tribute to Dundee United substitute Ryan Dow after his side reached the Scottish League Cup final thanks to a dramatic 2-1 win over Aberdeen at Hampden. United were losing 1-0 when Dow came on approaching the hour mark but the sub led the charge as they came back into the game, Callum Morris equalised before Nadir Ciftci scored the winner with a glancing header seven minutes from time. Last season Dundee United lost to St Johnstone in the Scottish Cup final and McNamara thinks it is a huge fillip for the club to have reached another showpiece occasion.
After the game he said: "It is great for everybody at the club to get to another final so soon after the disappointment of last season. We are in it for days like today. There are possibly five or six starters who were involved in the last final so for them it is a good chance to get it out of their system. I have great belief in the players we have, all our squad, and Ryan Dow coming on as substitute was the difference, in terms of us winning the game."
The final will be played on 15 March and Dundee United will face the winners of today's second semi-final, between Celtic and Rangers. With Celtic leading the way in the Scottish Premiership and Rangers second in the Championship, McNamara was asked if he would rather face the Ibrox club. The Dundee United manager said: "Possibly. I have played them twice before in management and won twice. They have come up the leagues but I do feel that Celtic will win it. If Rangers win, it will be one of the biggest shocks we have had in a while. The pitch might level things out. When the players moved on the pitch it was cutting up behind them. But I just feel Celtic will be too strong in terms of their fitness and quality."
Dons manager Derek McInnes felt Adam Rooney was unlucky to have a goal disallowed when the score was 1-1 for a foul in the build-up but also admitted that his side appeared to be a little below-par. He said: "The Hampden feed which feeds our video analysis and everything else went down, so unfortunately we have been let down and I haven't been able to see it. My first reaction to Rooney's goal was that it was fine but I don't know. The referee is adamant there was a push in the build-up. I think the reaction of the United player said a lot. I didn't think there was anything in it. And I don't know if Ciftci was offside (for the winning goal). Somebody told me he was but I haven't seen the incident again. I didn't think he was offside at the time and I think we should have dealt with it better anyway, it was a poor goal to lose. It was a missed opportunity, I didn't think we were good enough for the majority of the game. I thought my back four were excellent throughout but I didn't think we had enough ahead of that to be comfortable at any time in the game. My team are better than they showed today but we wish Dundee United well."