Peterhead’s Ryan Conroy hoping for another Tannadice moment to savour

Peterhead’s Ryan Conroy is hoping for another memorable moment at Tannadice today in vastly different circumstances to the last time he played at the ground.

The Blue Toon get their League Cup Group C campaign under way against Dundee United this afternoon.

Conroy’s last visit to Tannadice was as a Dundee player back in March 2013, when he scored to give 10-man Dee a lead which was only cancelled out by Michael Gardyne’s late equaliser.

Conroy was playing in midfield that day and, although he’s likely to line-up at left-back for the Blue Toon, he’d like to have another good memory to take away from Tannadice.

The 33-year-old said: “It was a 1-1 draw and I scored for Dundee (on his last visit to the ground), we’d been down to 10 men for a lot of the game and unfortunately they equalised in injury time.

“It would have been a lot better to win, but it’s still a moment I look back on fondly.

“The goal was just a cross that came into the box. It dropped for me, I took a touch, shot and it went in.

“If I could score again that would be great, but I’ve been playing left-back in pre-season, so I maybe won’t be that far up the park too much, but hopefully we can play well and make it a good day.”

One of the biggest differences between today’s encounter and Conroy’s last Tannadice appearance will be the lack of supporters.

Covid-19 restrictions mean games will be played behind closed doors for the foreseeable future.

Former Airdrie, Raith Rovers, Queen of the South and Celtic player Conroy added: “It won’t be as aggressive as that this time with no fans.

“But it’s still a good stadium to play in and we’re up against a good team, so it will still be difficult.

“This game will be fairly different to a Dundee derby, but we’ll just have to get used to playing without fans, although hopefully they can come back sooner rather than later.”

United will start as heavy favourites this afternoon, having already played 10 league games.

Dundee United are well into their top-flight season.

But Conroy hopes Peterhead can thrive this afternoon as most observers write them off.

He said: “Everybody knows it will be a really tough game for us, but the flip side is there isn’t much pressure on us to get a result.

“They’re 10 games into their season but we want to enjoy the game and give a good account of ourselves and see what happens.

“The pressure is all on Dundee United to get the win, we’re going there and nobody will give us a chance.

“But we’re a confident enough team to know what we’re capable of and we’ll back ourselves and see what happens on the day.”

Today’s fixture is Peterhead’s first competitive outing since March 7.

“Having been without it for so long, it definitely makes you appreciate it more,” Conroy said.

“This is the longest I’ve ever had without playing football and you realise how much you enjoy it and how much you miss it.”

Peterhead’s only absentee is Kieran Freeman, with the Dundee United loanee unable to face his parent club.