There is still an edge to any Aberdeen - Dundee United game despite the New Firm not maintaining their challenge at the top in the Scottish game. The term New Firm was attached to the pairing in the 1980s when they provided a genuine threat to the dominance of Celtic and Rangers. The nickname is used more as a put down these days as the Old Firm maintain their grip on the prizes on offer. However, Aberdeen manager Craig Brown claims the fans will still be up for the game when Aberdeen visit Tannadice on Monday.
Brown said: "I was surprised how much the fans are up for this fixture. There will be a big Aberdeen support going to Tannadice and they brought a big support to Pittodrie. We beat them 3-1 at Pittodrie earlier in the season but they are a better team now than they were then. Peter Houston has done really well. Key players like Prince Buaben and Morgaro Gomis moved on, players who were important to United. Peter has brought in good signings like Robbie Neilson and John Rankin and several bright young players like Johnny Russell and Gary Mackay-Steven. So they are a changed team from his Scottish Cup winning team but it will be a difficult game."Aberdeen's goalless draw against Hearts at Pittodrie on Wednesday took them seven points clear of bottom side Dunfermline and Brown is hoping to keep that decent run of form going. The former Scotland manager said: "We have lost only one game in the last five and that was a careless defeat at Inverness. We are competitive, certainly, but we will be okay if we are more consistent. Sometimes in the same game we go from being very good to very ordinary. So we need to get a consistent 90 minutes more often."
Home Away Team P W D L F A W D L F A GD PTS 1 Celtic 21 9 1 1 24 5 7 1 2 17 10 26 50 2 Rangers 21 7 3 0 18 7 8 0 3 19 5 25 48 3 Motherwell 19 3 3 3 7 9 7 1 2 17 12 3 34 4 St Johnstone 21 4 1 6 13 15 5 4 1 13 5 6 32 5 Hearts 21 7 0 4 18 7 1 5 4 4 7 8 29 6 Dundee Utd 21 3 3 4 10 10 3 5 3 20 23 -3 26 7 St Mirren 21 4 3 4 13 12 2 5 3 9 15 -5 26 8 Kilmarnock 20 4 4 2 18 15 1 4 5 7 15 -5 23 9 Aberdeen 21 4 4 3 16 11 1 2 7 7 17 -5 21 10 Inverness CT 21 3 2 5 12 16 2 2 7 16 24 -12 19 11 Hibs 20 1 4 5 9 15 2 2 6 9 18 -15 15 12 Dunfermline 19 0 4 5 11 25 3 1 6 9 18 -23 14Source: FOOTYMAD
