Dundee United boss Jackie McNamara believes his players have turned the corner after a poor run of results but insists there is still a lot more to come from his young team,.
The Tangerines made it two wins on the bounce on Saturday by defeating Kilmarnock at Tannadice and the manager is hoping that his side can kick on.
To do so, McNamara is looking for his players to continue to learn from their mistakes and to spread the goals through their ranks in the absence of an out and out “fox in the box” striker.
The manager said: “It was important to make it two wins in a row after the three losses we had over Christmas.
“You don’t become a bad team overnight and certain things went against us. It was the same at the weekend against Kilmarnock but we managed to overcome them and hopefully that is us building some momentum.
“We’ve created a lot of chances, just as we did in the Partick game, and that’s something we will continue to do.
“If you look at our record, we are the second highest scorers in the league and that’s without a 20-goals-a-season player.
“The goals are being spread around the team and that is important for us and we want that to continue.
“I am convinced the lads can play better and there is more to come from them. There were a lot of mistakes at the weekend and we got punished for switching off at times.
“We were a wee bit negative at times and the passing could have been better so we are always looking for improvement.
“The main thing is learning from those mistakes and it is about how you respond to it. You need to keep doing the same things and being positive, not being afraid to make mistakes.”
United are sitting in fourth spot in the Premiership table, 10 points behind second top Aberdeen and nine behind Friday night’s opponents Motherwell.
When asked if finishing behind runaway leaders Celtic at the end of the campaign was still achievable, McNamara replied: “Nothing is impossible. We went on a good run before and that is what we will look to do again.
“The other sides might not always be in the best of form but they are still winning and that’s what we need to do.
“We won on Saturday without playing spectacular and that’s is always a good sign and we’ll aim to keep doing that.
“We have a really difficult game this week against Motherwell. They went through a bit of a blip themselves but they have come through that.
“We need to show the same energy and enthusiasm we displayed at the weekend and try to cause Motherwell problems.
“It would help to take points off Motherwell. They have experience right through the team but hopefully we can cause them problems with our pace and energy.”
United will be hoping for packed home stands to cheer them to victory, with special bring-a-friend-for-a-fiver and youth admission deals on offer.