There may be a 19-point chasm separating Hearts and Dundee United, but Tannadice defender Garry Kenneth has insisted the fight for third place in the SPL is still very much on.
The Tynecastle club have been touted as potential title rivals for the Old Firm, but were given a reality check with a 4-0 defeat to Celtic on Wednesday night.
That they will still qualify for Europe by finishing behind Glasgow’s big two is still seen as a given as far as most are concerned, but that’s not how Kenneth sees it.
United have three games in hand on Hearts and the Scotland international claimed, “Of course they can be caught. If they have a bad run of three or four games and we have a good run over the same period, there won’t be much in it.
“They’ve been doing really well and have been talked up a lot, but we’re still aiming high. We gained one point on them in midweek and looking to catch them is the only way to approach the rest of the season.
“I don’t see why we can’t aim to claw them back there’s no reason why that can’t be done if we can turn our draws into wins.”
That is the crux of the matter for Peter Houston’s side, and Kenneth knows it has to happen sooner rather than later.Never-say-dieHe said, “It’s great to have a never-say-die attitude and to score late goals for draws, but we won’t be able to keep doing that.
“There will be times when we’re not getting these goals and we’ll be losing games. We can’t keep giving teams a goal start.
“We got a lot of clean sheets last year and that’s what we need to get back to.”
Injuries and suspensions forced Houston into fielding a youthful team against St Mirren on Wednesday, with 18-year-old Stuart Armstrong making his first start.
As Kenneth observed, his own seniority in the team has risen dramatically in a very short space of time.
He said, “Just last season I was still one of the youngest and now I’m one of the oldest. It’s unreal.
“Guys like Johnny (Russell) and Stuart have come in and done a great job, and there’s Goodie (David Goodwillie), of course. If we keep producing players like them, the club will have a great future.”