Houston pleased with friendly workout
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Dundee United manager Peter Houston was pleased with the 1-1 friendly result against Bohemians, pointing out it was only his side’s second outing this season having beaten Drogheda United 2-1 at the Hunky Dory Stadium last Sunday.
“I thought for an hour we did ok, we were the better side in the first half and could have scored a few goal – but I thought Bohemians did exceptionally well second half. They were a lot fresher and are at a stage in their season where they’re fitter than us. If we could do what we did for 50 minutes of the game for the full ninety, Bohemians were struggling to cope with us. But credit to Bohs, they had a very good second half.
The matches against Drogheda and Bohemians are part of a schedule focused on readying the Scottish side for their upcoming European tie with a Polish team who finished second in their league. “A very difficult team”, he said. “One of the coaches will be watching them in a friendly against Dinamo Zagreb in Slovenia on Saturday. They have a lot of experience in their side, a lot of Polish internationals but we’ll do our homework and try out best.”
The club will be hoping to reach the next round where last year the lost out to a strong AEK Athens side but Houston realise his side benefitted from their European adventure last season, albeit a short one. “We acquitted ourselves well last year with no previous experience in Euope. We they’ve learnt from that.”
There is a substantial contingent of Irish players currently lining out for the Scottish side including new signing Willo Flood who began his career at Cherry Orchard, Jon Daly who played underage football for Ireland and Sean Dillon who won the League of Ireland with Shelbourne in 2006.
“We always look to find decent players and there always is in the Irish league. We’ve picked Willo and Jon from different areas but certainly Sean came from here and he has matured into a fine SPL player. We’re always looking to find that wee gem in Irish football but at this present time we don’t have the money to bring anyone in”
The financial situation is one area where Peter Houston draws parallels between the two leagues and he has left the door open for an approach for youngster David Goodwillie who has been subject to fierce interest from SPL Champions Rangers. “Like Ireland budgets are very tight in Scotland. I’ve only brought in two players and I need some more” On the Goodwillie situation Houston had this to say, “Naturally any player that scores 20 goals you want to keep. But if we get injuries we could struggle so I’m caught between a rock and a hard place.”
One player who impressed the manager was Aidan Downes up front for Bohemians and recently signed an amateur contract with the Dublin side. “I enjoyed watching one or two of the Bohemians players tonight. I liked the number 9 (Downes), I thought he was excellent, he worked out back four very well. I’ll have to keep an eye on him.”
“I thought for an hour we did ok, we were the better side in the first half and could have scored a few goal – but I thought Bohemians did exceptionally well second half. They were a lot fresher and are at a stage in their season where they’re fitter than us. If we could do what we did for 50 minutes of the game for the full ninety, Bohemians were struggling to cope with us. But credit to Bohs, they had a very good second half.
The matches against Drogheda and Bohemians are part of a schedule focused on readying the Scottish side for their upcoming European tie with a Polish team who finished second in their league. “A very difficult team”, he said. “One of the coaches will be watching them in a friendly against Dinamo Zagreb in Slovenia on Saturday. They have a lot of experience in their side, a lot of Polish internationals but we’ll do our homework and try out best.”
The club will be hoping to reach the next round where last year the lost out to a strong AEK Athens side but Houston realise his side benefitted from their European adventure last season, albeit a short one. “We acquitted ourselves well last year with no previous experience in Euope. We they’ve learnt from that.”
There is a substantial contingent of Irish players currently lining out for the Scottish side including new signing Willo Flood who began his career at Cherry Orchard, Jon Daly who played underage football for Ireland and Sean Dillon who won the League of Ireland with Shelbourne in 2006.
“We always look to find decent players and there always is in the Irish league. We’ve picked Willo and Jon from different areas but certainly Sean came from here and he has matured into a fine SPL player. We’re always looking to find that wee gem in Irish football but at this present time we don’t have the money to bring anyone in”
The financial situation is one area where Peter Houston draws parallels between the two leagues and he has left the door open for an approach for youngster David Goodwillie who has been subject to fierce interest from SPL Champions Rangers. “Like Ireland budgets are very tight in Scotland. I’ve only brought in two players and I need some more” On the Goodwillie situation Houston had this to say, “Naturally any player that scores 20 goals you want to keep. But if we get injuries we could struggle so I’m caught between a rock and a hard place.”
One player who impressed the manager was Aidan Downes up front for Bohemians and recently signed an amateur contract with the Dublin side. “I enjoyed watching one or two of the Bohemians players tonight. I liked the number 9 (Downes), I thought he was excellent, he worked out back four very well. I’ll have to keep an eye on him.”
