Assessing if this been a good season for Dundee United or not depends on who you ask.

Some will point to the turbulent summer that bled into their campaign, to the manager appointed late and in haste, and to the fact they have avoided a relegation scrap in their first term in the top flight since 2016.

But others will speak of a top-six budget, of a relatively well-appointed squad, and the lingering status of a club more accustomed to jousting with giants.

What might unite those disparate groups, though, would be a Scottish Cup final appearance.

United face Hibernian on Saturday with not only a place in the 22 May showpiece and a big shiny pot at stake, but also guaranteed European football until December and an estimated £3m wedge for their troubles. Eye-watering money normally, never mind after a season without gate receipts.

This season's cup winners will go directly into the Europa League play-off round next term. The opposition will be stiff - we're talking the likes of FC Copenhagen, Cluj, Genk and Alkmaar - but even if they lose, they are assured of a place in the group stage of the new Europa Conference League.

Lying in wait there? Ach, just the likes of Liverpool, Real Betis, Borussia Monchengladbach, Marseille and United's old adversaries Roma.

Plenty to play for, then, when Micky Mellon's team trot out at Hampden on Saturday. But will it be the United whose ruthless flaying of Aberdeen at Pittodrie earned them a semi-final spot?

Or rather will it be the ponderous, supine United who slunk out of the League Cup at the group stage after a home defeat by Peterhead and have stumbled and spurted through a wildly inconsistent Premiership campaign?

The latest appearance of the latter came against relegation-threatened Ross County on Tannadice last Saturday. Granted, the visitors were the team with skin in the game, but United's performance was abject.

"If you are playing against a team with a bit of pressure on them, it can be difficult to get it right," Mellon said on Thursday as he reflected on that defeat. "As much as you say to them 'get focussed', it can be difficult.'

"When the pressure comes off, it seems to be difficult for us. We showed against Aberdeen that we need to be fighting for something. You don't quite see what your team is like until the real bullets start flying."
'Overall it's been successful season' - analysis

Former Scotland midfielder Michael Stewart on Sportscene

The levels that they reached against Aberdeen were phenomenal, but against Ross County they just did not defend well enough. Micky Mellon must be thinking 'Where is the performance from Pittodrie' because that is what they will need against Hibs.

Former Scotland forward James McFadden on Sportscene

If you're defending the players [after the County defeat], they've got a huge game coming up and maybe their minds were on that. All season, United have been very up and down. But overall I think it's been a successful season for them.