Dundee United manager Csaba Laszlo has urged his side to make trips to Aberdeen a regular occurrence again by winning promotion back to the Premiership.
The Championship side exited the Scottish Cup after a 4-2 defeat to the Dons at Pittodrie yesterday but Laszlo hopes the experience will whet the appetite of his players to go on and win promotion this season.
He said: “As a team we showed spirit in the second half.
“We can talk about how many changes we had to make but we have to look at the Championship and finishing the season strongly, and hopefully coming back to Aberdeen next season.
“Some people think it is maybe better for Dundee United not to have the cup games as a distraction but I see it differently.
“We have 14 games to go and the most important thing is that the team gives everything.
“Willo Flood, our captain, is not the youngest player but he was trying to get the team forward and the young players need to try to do the same.”
Laszlo believes mistakes cost his side dear against Derek McInnes’ side and hopes his team will learn from the errors.
He said: “We gave away two very easy goals. In the second half I was more satisfied with the game, our spirit and how we tried to come back. We showed more intensity and moved the ball quicker higher up the pitch. The second and third goals were key though. We let them move the ball too easily in the middle of the pitch.
“We tried to change the game by putting Paul McMullan on and going 4-4-2. We wanted to leave Billy King further up the park and show more activity in Aberdeen’s penalty area but we were very open.”