ALTHOUGH Dundee United only missed out on winning a trophy by the slenderest of margins last season – losing to Rangers on penalties after extra time in the League Cup final – Darren Dods believes the Tannadice club are now better equipped to challenge for European football.
Having consolidated third place in the SPL and reached the semi-finals of the Co-operative Insurance Cup thanks to an impressive unbeaten run of ten games, Dods highlighted the increased attacking options recruited by manager Craig Levein as one of t
he reasons for United's progress.
"The potential in this side is strong," observed the centre-back. "Compared to last year, we are a lot better off in the striking department. We've got people like Francisco Sandaza, Jon Daly, Roy O'Donovan and Warren Feeney up front. Last year nearly all of our goals came from Noel Hunt and Barry Robson.
"This season the goals are being shared around more and I believe we have greater strength in depth. Last season, around Christmas, we picked up a lot of injuries and suffered a bad run of games. If that happens again, I think we can cope better."
Dods,33, scored his first goal of the campaign in the 2-0 win over Hibernian on Wednesday and relished the moment. "Scoring the goal against one of my former clubs didn't make it any more special," he cautioned. "I would have been happy to score against anyone. I've gone close a few times this season and the manager has been giving me stick in training for missing them. There's a belief in the side which maybe wasn't there last year. When the game against Hibs was 0-0, we could still sense a goal coming – probably because of the run of results over the past few weeks. We know we've been scoring goals and creating chances, which gives you added confidence.
"We're going for third place in the SPL and that's quite a turnaround if you recall we were bottom of the table after five games.
We kept faith in ourselves when we were at the bottom and now people are talking about us as the third force we won't get carried away. I think things will open up a wee bit during the next round of games and it's up to us to keep our noses in front of the rest."
• Stephen Thompson is set to be confirmed as Dundee United's new chairman at a board meeting today. Currently the club's chief executive, Thompson will succeed his late father Eddie in the role. His mother, Cath, will become vice-chair at Tannadice.
