JIM GOODWIN | EVERY GAME IS A CUP FINAL FOR US

Dundee United Manager Jim Goodwin spoke to the broadcast media to preview our William Hill Premiership clash with Kilmarnock on Matchday 28.

The Irishman reflected on our progression to the Last Eight of the Scottish Cup, emphasised the importance of our skipper and set his targets on a hat-trick of victories in seven days.

Watch the full press conference below!

ON A SATISFYING VICTORY OVER THE SPARTANS

Obviously, we're delighted with the final outcome in terms of making sure we're in the Quarter-Finals of the competition. It was a lot more difficult than we had hoped for in terms of the way the game played out. 

The early sending off to (Iurie) Iovu meant that we had to play 80 plus minutes with ten men - playing with a man less against any opposition, regardless of level, is always going to make things a little bit more difficult.

Credit to the players, they managed to get the result that we needed. We executed a really well-worked set play for the first goal and then it was a fantastic counter-attack for the second.

It could have been more comfortable in the end with the two or three good chances we had in the latter stages of the game, but ultimately in cup competitions, it's about getting through to the next round and we've managed to do that.

ON ROSS GRAHAM’S RED-HOT SCORING STREAK

Ross Graham's been really influential for us this season. We gave him the captain's armband in the summer and he knows what this club means to the supporters - he takes great pride in leading the team out. 

Obviously he's paid to keep the ball out of our net, but every now and again he pops up with some important goals and obviously does it again last night.

ON HOSTING A REJUVENATED KILMARNOCK

That's two wins now back-to-back, we need to try and continue to build on that and gain some momentum going into the last few games before the split.

Every game is a cup final for us now going forward in the league. We need to go into it with a positive mindset and trying to take maximum points. 

It's not going to be easy at the weekend - Kilmarnock have really picked up under Neil McCann. There's a change of shape and a change of style of play as well, which we have to contend with. 

They’re a team that's scoring lots of goals and we give them the greatest of respect. They're fighting for their lives down there at the bottom end of the table and there's not a huge points gap between the team in 11th and the team in 7th.

But we’re in a good place ourselves at the moment, beating a high-flying Falkirk at the weekend then managing to get ourselves through into the Quarter-Finals as well. My players should be going into the game in high spirits and feeling good about themselves.

ON TEAM NEWS

We made a number of changes to the starting XI on Tuesday night from the team that beat Falkirk. We're going to have to make more changes again going into the weekend because of the volume of games that we've got coming up. 

It was a very demanding and physical game last night in terms of playing for such a lengthy period of time with a man less. We'll manage the squad appropriately, make sure that the team that we pick is fresh and is ready to go.

ON USING HOME ADVANTAGE DESPITE THE CONDITIONS

It's great to be playing at Tannadice. Obviously, the pitch is not ideal and plenty has been made of that, but we have to find solutions in terms of potentially changing up how we want to play a little bit. You saw last night with some of the passes that were played into midfield, it's difficult for the players to control. 

We might have to change our approach slightly, play a little bit more percentage football and take that risk element out of it. We'll see how the game pans out on Saturday.

ON ASHLEY MAYNARD-BREWER’S INFLUENCE

I've been really pleased with Ash. I don't think there's a great deal of blame that we can point at him in terms of the goals that we've conceded since he's been in. 

He made a brilliant save at Falkirk at the weekend in a real crucial time in the game. His sharpness is certainly coming back now after not playing a huge amount of games prior to coming to the club. He's a very good talker, a good organiser. I think he'll just go from strength to strength.