City won their fifth and final pre-season game this afternoon, defeating Dundee United 2-1 at the Circle.

Nigel Pearson fielded what looks very close to being our starting XI next week, necessarily shorn of the services of Boaz Myhill and declining to select Jimmy Bullard. However, the mood was lifted slightly when our great midfield hope Tom Cairney opened the scoring after ten minutes, sweeping home a shot from outside the penalty area after being teed up by Richard Garcia.

It didn’t take the visitors long to equaliser, however. A free-kick was swung in, a Terror was unmarked, 1-1. Ho hum.

After the break, City again scored early in the proceedings when a Solano free-kick was parried by the United keeper onto one of his own defenders, who looked on as the ball rolled into the empty net. Cullen had a goal disallowed later in the half as City made two substitutions to add to the two made at the interval, and the game petered out as friendlies are wont to do.

So, seven days to go until the real thing begins. City’s low-key pre-season has seen three victories over non-league opposition, defeat against Premier League Sunderland and a win over the Scottish Cup holders – all of which we read precisely nothing in to. A long, arduous Championship campaign awaits, and City’s prospects remain tantalisingly impossible to divine. It can’t come around soon enough.