“They’ve offered him about three times what we could come up with, so the deal won’t be going ahead. It came out of the blue, but that’s football,” said a philosophical Craig.

“After yesterday, I had thought that, with him not having a club, it was going to be straightforward and Coventry were not even represented at the reserve game.

“Someone has recommended him to them, though, and there is not much we could do about that.”

This afternoon, Craig was trying to add to his squad and his one big consolation about the Bunce affair was that decision to hold on to McCracken.

“With Lee Mair and Alan Archibald out injured for a while, if I had let David go just now it would have been a disaster, so I’m happy I didn’t.”

McCracken will still be moving on when his contract expires in the summer and there has been interest from within the SPL, England and even Norway.

“It’s unfortunate for David because there are two or three clubs interested. I was trying to help him by telling him about his contract situation early and would have liked to have been able to let him get a two or three-year deal somewhere else now,” added Craig.

“However, I have a duty to Dundee United and, if I let him go, I just would not have enough options. We’ve been told Lee Mair is out until March, but, right now, I can’t say how quick or slow his healing process will be. David understands the situation and, as I showed last Saturday, he knows that, if he is the best defender in training, he will get games. Between now and the end of the season he’ll have opportunities to show other clubs he is worth taking.”

Any offers for full-back David Proctor will be considered, but, with his old club Inverness Caley Thistle wanting him for free just six months after getting £35,000 for him, he might not be moving on today.

And, the Bunce episode apart, the manager is more than happy with his January transfer business.

“At this minute, it is unlikely I will sign anyone else before the deadline, but we have Morgaro Gomis, Jon Daly and Sean Dillon already here, and there have been no departures,” said Craig.

“Hats off to the chairman for that, because he has had to dig deep into the budget and he’s done a great job coming up with the funds.”

Tomorrow at Tannadice, United are expected to confirm that skipper Barry Robson will be signing a lucrative new contract.

He will not, though, be pursuing his interest in foreign trialists Didier Paass or Akwasi Okyere. They did not do enough last night to be offered anything.

“Didier came off injured and Akwasi is not quite what we are looking for, but we did have a Scottish trialist and I am speaking to him with a view to getting him fixed up for the rest of the season,” said Alex.

“You can never be sure until a deal is done, but I think I have a reasonable chance of getting him and I’d be happy with that.”

Catching the eye last night was Khalid Hamdaoui, who hit the net twice and set up Dundee’s other goal.

“It was a good game because the boys were 2-0 down at one stage and showed character to come back,” added Alex.

“I actually thought Khalid could have played better, but it might have been because the standard was a bit below his level and he started over-complicating things rather then keeping them simple.

“However, with his goals and some of his other touches, he showed again what a lot of ability he has and I’m happy I got him fixed up earlier this week.”

Club captain Bobby Mann could be on the way before the deadline after Peterhead finally made their expected move for his services.

The north-east outfit’s manager Steve Paterson worked with Mann at Inverness and, since the big defender asked for a transfer earlier this month, the Blue Toon was known to be his preferred destination.

While Dundee are unlikely to ask for a fee, personal terms had still to be worked out late this afternoon.

Meanwhile, Dundee and Hibs have reached an agreement that will see Jay Shields extend his loan period at Dens until the end of the season.

Indeed, the win over Rangers, was the first by a club from a lower league in a cup match at Ibrox in over 100 years.

Geoff said, “I think I’m right in saying that, in the past when we’ve reached the latter stages of the national cup competitions, we haven’t beaten teams higher than us on the way there, with the exception of Hearts, who we defeated in the League Cup semis on our way to the final several seasons ago,” said Geoff.

“And with the days gone when players stay at clubs long term, our manager Owen Coyle has had to put a team together, so this probably makes this semi-final-reaching achievement better than the rest.

“Our run to this stage has been quite impressive and I don’t think it’s sunk in with a lot of people in the Perth area just what we’ve done.

“I thought we were excellent on Saturday in our win over Gretna and, hopefully, we can carry that type of form into tonight’s game.”

Saints are minus the cup-tied Willie McLaren and Derek Lilley, but, that apart, are likely to take the same squad to Tynecastle as was on duty against Gretna.

“We’ve earned our right to be in tonight’s semi by working hard. This is a terrific game for our club and it’s one we’re up for,” exclaimed Owen Coyle.

“The absence of McLaren and Lilley creates two extra spaces in our squad, so some of our good young prospects could come into the pool.

“What a week this is for St Johnstone.

“We beat Gretna in a top-of-the-table First Division game on Saturday, we have Hibs in this semi tonight and Falkirk away in the Scottish Cup on Saturday.

“But this is what we want.”