Dundee United 4-1 Aberdeen

5 goals, 1 red card and a handful of howlers by Jamie Langfield.... it was just another typical Cup tie at Tynecastle on Tuesday night.

Although, after struggling against St Mirren in the Scottish Cup at the weekend, few supporters could have predicted how easily Dundee United would breeze passed Aberdeen into the Final of the League Cup.

Both teams faced-up to each other at Tynecastle, a week after bad weather had forced the originally scheduled match to be postponed, with Aberdeen looking to have benefited most from the tie being moved back 7-days.

Dundee United lost hugely influential captain Barry Robson to Celtic on the final day of the January transfer window, while Aberdeen had several players recover from injury during the build up to the rescheduled match.

However, the match didn't pan out as many football "experts" had predicted, with Dundee United looking the hungrier of the two sides for most of the game.

Aberdeen might have taken a 19th minute lead through Andrew Considine, but it was against the run of play and it was no surprise when Dundee United equalised just minutes later.

Andrew Considine gifted United a freekick after a challenge on Craig Conway, giving Christain Kalvenes the opportunity to float the ball into the penalty box and Darren Dods headed home from just 6 yards.

There was controversy in the 2nd half, as a handful of idiots among the Dundee United support pelted Jamie Langfield`s goal with coins and pies.

Obviously the incident unsettled Langfield, because in the 58th minute the Aberdeen keeper mis-kicked the ball behind his own goal, giving United the chance to take the lead from the resulting corner kick.

After several months sidelined through injury, it was Christian Kalvenes who deserved to put United infront , when he found space to get onto the end of Craig Conway`s corner from the right hand side.

At the stage Aberdeen were shell-shocked and started making stupid mistakes all over the park, but it was to get even worse for Calderwood`s team after Craig Conway charged through on Langfield`s goal and slotted a left-foot shot into the bottom corner of the net.

Lee Miller`s red card in the 68th minute made it even more unlikely that the Dons were going to comeback from 3-1 down and Aberdeen`s Scott Severin decided to put the game beyond doubt by setting up Morgaro Gomis with a mis-hit backpass.

Morgaro Gomis was alert to pouch on the passback and had the easy task of putting United 4-1 infront in the 77th minute, as Severin looked on in disbelief.

Aberdeen did have their chances to make it more of a contest, even at 2-1 and 3-1 down, but its Dundee United who progress to the League Cup Final, where they will face Rangers at Hampden in March.

Chairman Eddie Thompson might be stepping down at the end of the season, but at least he will get to see Dundee United in at least 1 more cup final before he goes.

Even manager Craig Levein was overjoyed that he could take United to the Final for Eddie Thompson, claiming it was an important evening for the Chairman, who is currently seriously ill with cancer.

Final score:
Aberdeen 1-4 Dundee United