Daly is all set to give United six of the best; SPL EXTRA.

Byline: Neil Cameron 

DUNDEE UNITED striker Jon Daly yesterday revealed he is back kicking a ball - an incredible six months before he was supposed to play again.

The luckless Irishman ruptured knee ligaments in April, his third serious injury since arriving Tannadice twoand-a-half years ago, and was told then he'd be out for a year.

But Daly is made of strong stuff and United fans will get to see the big goalscorer back in action far sooner than they would have expected.

He said:"I have picked up the rehab. I've started doing twisting, turning and even some ball work. I'm going to see a specialist at the end of this month and hopefully he'll give me the all-clear to get back to training in September.

"That's six months ahead of schedule. They said it would be a year in April, but I always knew I'd come back quicker. Although even I didn't think it would be as soon as this.

"It was bad at the time and I did think why did it happen to me. But once I got my head around that I decided to come back stronger and fitter.

"The manager has shown great faith in me and I really want to repay him now by getting back and playing well.

"I have three years left on my contract and I want to play for that time."

Daly was in great form before the set-back and United will hope he can hit the ground running on his return as a team aiming for a third-place finish needs someone who can regularly score goals.

He said: "The battle for third place will be tougher than ever this year because there are strong teams, many who were in the bottom six last year but will be determined to push on."

United boss Craig Levein last night declared Hearts the team everyone must pip to third place again.

The Tynecastle men finished 'best of the rest' last term so with gaffer Csaba Laszlo adding five new faces to his squad over the summer they look like being a formidable force once more.

The sides meet on Monday night and Levein said: "Their wage bill is closer to the Old Firm's than ours is to theirs so that tells you they should be in third spot most seasons.

"Although their wage bill is much bigger than ours we still feel we're able to compete with them, there's no doubt about that. It's a great fixture to start off with."

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REHAB: United's Jon Daly