Dundee United captain Sean Dillon has revealed he would love to sign a new deal with the Tangerines.
The influential Irishman, who scored the winner against Hamilton Accies on Monday night, is out of contract in the summer but wants to stay right where he is.
Dillon has been one of United’s greatest servants of the modern era, with his appearances now totalling 278.
As professional as ever, while he expressed his wish to get a new contract he insisted that wasn’t why he was now banging in winners for the team!
“You always want to play well – I know it sounds a bit of a cliche – whether you have six months or six years left on your contract,” said Dillon.
“That shouldn’t change things and I don’t train any harder or play any better than I have done.
“I don’t want people thinking I am working harder because I am out of contract in the summer. That wouldn’t be nice!
“As far as I am concerned, I want to stay at the club. We have had a brief chat about it but it’s all very well chatting about it.
“Until something is done, I am not going to go into it too much. I want to stay but it isn’t my decision.
“In fact, I would love to stay because I am happy at the club.”
Dillon revealed that his powerful header at New Douglas Park was a first for him, in that it wrapped up the three points.
“It’s nice to get a goal and it was the first time I have got a winner for the club,” he added.
“That tells you how long it has been. I have only scored five goals and, until now, none of them were winners so it is nice.
“I am sure people saw something in my reaction to scoring. I was delighted and it was a nice feeling.
“Mind you, I was just as happy that we dug in and got the result in the end.”
The win moved third-placed United to within a point of Celtic, albeit the Hoops have two games in hand, while leaders Aberdeen are just five better off than the Tangerines.
As goalkeeper Rado Cierzniak rightly observed, the Tangerines are still going well in all three competitions – third in the Premiership, semi-finalists in the League Cup and in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup.
While the Pole entertained talk of a possible treble, Dillon wasn’t travelling that particular route.
“Did he say that?” asked Dillon when informed of Cierniak’s words. “Hey listen, good luck to him if that’s what he thinks – yeah, happy days.
“I am not going to go down that road though. It is one game at a time for me. We are still in everything so I suppose he has a point.
“He is a confident character and a great lad. I’ve got a lot of time for Rado. I am not knocking what he said but I don’t normally look too far ahead and it is all about the next game.
“Don’t get me wrong, we should be confident and I am not saying there is no chance of it happening.
“But there are a few teams out there who could probably say the same thing. I am not really looking that far ahead, to be honest.
“I am delighted we got the result at Hamilton and it is a good feeling to grind one out if you like.
“The main thing now is to recover and prepare for another big game against Inverness at the weekend.”
Of course, Aberdeen are one of the teams that Dillon is referring to when he talks of others having ambitions.
He was asked if the spotlight being on the Dons at the moment might just benefit the rest of the chasing pack.
“We had it before when we went on a good run last season and Aberdeen didn’t get as much publicity,” added Dillon.
“It swings around and they deserve a lot of credit.
“They have had eight clean sheets in their last eight games which they have won and that is brilliant.
“They deserve all the credit they are getting and good luck to them, but we just need to keep our heads down.”