United need to get more ruthless in front of goal

Saints boss Craig Morrison took the positives from his weekends Scottish Cup defeat.

Arniston Rangers edged Morrison’s men out of the cup with a 1-0 win, but it was a game in which United will feel they did more than enough to advance from.

The Saints boss said: “In the first 25 minutes, if the game was a boxing match it would have been stopped.

“We battered them and everything played was in their final third.

“We had crosses into the box which just needed that finish.

“Realistically we could have been three or four goals up.

“But for some reason our tempo dropped so we got them in at half time and told them to lift it again.

“The second half was a bit better again but then they play a long ball forward which their boy runs on to and, to be fair, finishes well.

“Football can be like that at times.”

Despite the defeat, Morrison says the side should still go into this weekend’s match at Bathgate.

“There are positives we can take from the Arniston game,” said the boss.

“We will be giving the players the same messages of starting the game well and using the ball well.

“If we can get the same level of performance we will create chances - we just have to hit the net.”