Dundee United returned to top form with one of their best performances of the season in this thrashing of Motherwell.
Not only did the comprehensive victory reduce the gap on Stuart McCall’s men to four points and keep alive their hopes of qualifying for Europe through the league, it also allayed fears that they were a team in decline as the Scottish Cup final approaches.
Apart from a brief spell at the start of the second half when the visitors had a couple of shots that flew over the bar, it was all about United.
Even during their purple patch of the autumn, there weren’t many wins more convincing than this one and that includes the Fir Park rout.
They took the lead in just eight minutes when Stuart Armstrong burst through the middle, and after he laid the ball into the path of Nadir Ciftci the striker chipped the ball over keeper Gunnar Nielson into the top corner.
There was an almost identical move on 22 minutes, but on this occasion Ciftci went for power and Nielson blocked well.
There were a few near misses before the second goal arrived on 40 minutes. It was another composed finish from Ciftci, with Armstrong again the provider.
Man of the match Armstrong got the goal he thoroughly deserved when United broke quickly up the pitch and Ryan Dow put him in.
With Motherwell now utterly demoralised, Dow scored goal number four on 72 minutes from close range.
United weren’t finished yet. On 82 minutes substitute Brian Graham got in on the act, steering the ball past Nielson from the edge of the box.
A deflected Lionel Ainsworth shot made it 5-1 but there weren’t any home fans complaining.
United supporters who were panic-stricken after last weekend’s convincing defeat by St Johnstone might be feeling a tad more optimistic now.