“I felt since the new manager has come in and with Paul, Barry and Simmie before he took charge, confidence has been high, and we have been playing some good football. I felt after the Livingston and Celtic games that the confidence was good throughout the squad and training was good. I felt confident going into the game, but it seemed to be a bridge too far with three games in a week. I felt that we lacked a bit of energy, they came after us from the get-go. We started the first half and the second half well enough, but they were clinical with all three chances that they had. I don’t think we created much at all.

“The style of play that we are trying to achieve, we try to play through the thirds, it does leave you open but at the same time as a team we need to react. If we lose the ball in the forward areas, we need to get back into our shape quicker than what we did. We looked stretched and we looked open. Every time we lost the ball up front, we seemed to be miles away from our midfield to our backline to our forward line. It seemed to be too much. It was a tough shift for us all.

“To be fair to Dundee Utd, they had relentless energy and ran us into the ground, and we couldn’t handle it.

“The boys have given everything; we have played 120 minutes and then Celtic at home which takes a lot out of the legs. Getting to Hampden was always going to be a massive incentive going into the game. But now it is over with I do feel that there is a fair amount to play for. We still have a chance of getting third, hoping results go our way. And for every player in the squad there is something to play for now the new manager is in.

“It is a massive kick in the teeth. We are all in this together. We’ve given the manager everything and the game was just a step too much.

“With football you have to knuckle down, there is always a game around the corner where you can go from zero to hero or hero to zero, that is how it works. Each and every one of those boys will want to prove everyone wrong. If we go and get a result against Livingston next weekend and beat Hibs, it could yet set us up for an interesting final game.

“Being in Europe is massive for the club and that is what we need to go and focus on now.