Having been through the same scenario at Shelbourne, Dillon knows exactly what tomorrow’s opponents are going through.

While it could be a concern off the park, he knows, on it, it’s likely to be a case of business as usual.

“At Shels, I went seven weeks without seeing a penny and it wasn’t nice, but, in that time, we clinched a championship. That shows it’s something you can play through,” says Dillon.

“When it happened with me, I was single and living with my folks, so I wasn’t as affected as some of the lads who had kids and mortgages to look after.

“It still wasn’t nice and, in the end, I told them I just wanted to move — luckily, United had come in for me and that was a move I’d have made anyway.

“Having been through it, I do have sympathy for the Hearts boys and, whatever the reason for it, it’s not nice when pay day comes and you don’t get your money.

“Like we were at Shelbourne, though, they have been doing well and the one thing they’ll want to do is keep that going. That means, from our point of view, their situation is not an issue.”

And, while Hearts have climbed to third in the SPL table, back-to-back wins mean United are looking to improve their own league position.

“It was good to get our first league win at Aberdeen last Saturday and the way we took care of Airdrie in the cup on Tuesday was good. We want to make it three wins in a row now and keep the run going.”

Dillon is a certain starter tomorrow and the only question about his participation is on which side of the defence he’ll be.

At Aberdeen he switched to left-back, while Mihael Kovacevic’s absence against Airdrie saw him back on the right. Either way, he’ll be happy to play.

He continued, “The first thing you look for is to be in the team — where you’re playing is secondary. I’ve played both full-back positions a lot and, although I am more comfortable on the right, there are positives to being on the left as well.

“When I’m on that side, the whole park is on my stronger foot and that gives me the option of cutting back inside if I want. Defensively, I’m comfortable in both positions, so it does not bother me.”

While he can’t have been happy to hear of the troubles at his old club, Craig Levein will remain focused on United’s interests this weekend.

“The only thing I have paid attention to coming out of Tynecastle is how they’re playing — we’re not really interested in the off-field stuff,” said the Tangerines manager.

“That’s nothing to do with us and, if anything, a bit of adversity often spurs a team on, so we won’t be treating them lightly.

“Sometimes a bunker mentality is a good thing for a group of players. They are arguably the league’s form team at the moment because they’ve started the season really well and the way their team is playing is the only news coming out of there I’m bothered about.”

Jon Daly will return to the home line-up after confirming he is ready after attending the birth of daughter Sophie, but Kovacevic is a doubt because of that facial knock.