Hard to dress this up as anything other than a massive missed opportunity.
A Scottish Cup semi-final was on offer and Falkirk away was always going to be tough, but the real frustration is United largely beat themselves.
Coming out half-asleep in a quarter-final and again waiting until conceding or the second half to remember how to play is a pattern that has defined this season.
To the players' credit, Julius Eskesen's goal gave us a lifeline and for a spell Falkirk looked rattled. But the second moment never came and our chance of a semi-final spot just fizzled out.
And that's the story of the season. The league fizzled. The cup fizzled. The whole campaign is quietly drifting away before the clocks have even changed.
So what is left? Pride, really.
Try to be the best of the bottom six and win the derbies that remain. That is where we are now.
This weekend it's a walk up the road to Dens Park and that alone makes it enormous. Win it and the mood shifts quickly but Dundee are in form and if we start the same way we did on Friday night it will not end well.
The season is running out of reasons to get excited. Sunday is one of the few that remain and United cannot afford to waste it the same way they wasted Friday.
Ronny Costello can be found at the Dode Fox Podcast
