Source: FOOTYMAD
Houston Confident Ahead Of Home Game
Tannadice was a place where visiting teams found it difficult to win last season. Peter Houston hopes that trend continues tonight. Dundee United go into tonight's second leg of their Europa League tie with Slask Wroclaw trailing by a single goal. The game may be at Tannadice but manager Peter Houston admits it would be a "huge achievement" to progress from the tie, although his team are confident of beating any team that visits Tannadice. Slask's summer signing from Sparta Rotterdam, Johan Voskamp, was the man who scored the only goal of last week's away leg with 15 minutes left in a rare chance for the hosts. Houston was pleased with his team's overall performance, feeling they had restricted Slask largely to long-range efforts while creating the best two chances of the game. Unfortunately for Houston and United fans, Johnny Russell and David Goodwillie both missed when clean through on the Slask goalkeeper. Houston was also encouraged by Jon Daly's success in the air and the Irishman may be returned to a more familiar striking role after deputising in central defence for Garry Kenneth, who has now recovered from a knee injury. However, Houston's optimism following the first leg should not be mistaken for complacency. He said: "We are a very young squad this season, we have got some seasoned campaigners but you can count them on one hand. It would be a huge achievement for us (to get through) because they're a side that have done exceptionally well. To finish second in the Polish league is a huge achievement when you look at where they have come from. But I think they have someone who is investing some money into them. They have got a million-euro striker in (Argentinian Cristian) Diaz. I don't know if he'll play, I think he has got a wee injury. But then they signed someone from Holland as well, the boy Voskamp who scored the goal. He looks more of a physical presence. They are good players, they have got internationals in their team, they are solid professionals and I think it will be very difficult for us to break them down. We know we're in for a tough, tough game.'' United have reason to be confident when playing at home. They won eight games at Tannadice from the start of March until the end of last season, and Houston is confident Russell, Goodwillie and Daly can score. He said: "Slask are a good side but here at Tannadice we are confident of beating anybody at any time, whether it be the Old Firm or a European side. We'll obviously be trying to score but the biggest thing is not to concede. We have to be cautious but we have to try to score goals from the first whistle. We have to be a bit more adventurous. We will be more adventurous, trust me, because we'll have players in the team who can score goals. They score goals in the SPL and we can only hope these guys score tomorrow.'' Garry Kenneth and Danny Swanson have been added to the squad. Kenneth could come straight into the team after recovering from a knee injury, but the best Swanson can expect is a place on the bench after back and hamstring problems undermined his pre-season work. Scott Severin has shaken off an ankle knock picked up in the first leg, but Scott Robertson (ankle) will stay out of contention for a place.
