Dundee United midfielder Stuart Armstrong has admitted that sitting second in the Scottish Premiership at Christmas has exceeded his expectations.
The Tangerines moved into the best of the rest spot behind Celtic by beating Ross County 1-0 with a patient but persistent performance at Tannadice on Saturday.
Against a side that had cleary decided on damage limitation as their best hope, United nipped away at the visitors until the in-form Gary Mackay-Steven swept home the winner on 69 minutes.
It wasn’t the overwhelming win seen in previous weeks but was of huge importance nonetheless as it pushed them above Inverness Caley Thistle into second place on goal difference after the Highlanders lost at home to Aberdeen later in the day.
Armstrong conceded that to be so far up the table going into the festive period is a perfect present for him and better than he had dared to hope for back in the summer.
“I would have disagreed that we could finish second if you had asked me at the start of the season,” said the Scotland Under-21 captain.
“However, we have now had six wins in a row so anything is possible. Second is realistic.
“At the start of the season we were inconsistent and it was frustrating but we found our groove and then started performing really well.
“We had a lot of new faces going into the new campaign but we quickly got to know each other and it has come together.
“Any squad needs good depth if they want to be successful and I think we have that in abundance, which will be crucial with a lot of games coming up at Christmas time.
“This win was different from the recent ones in terms of the scoreline but we will take any win, and this is the kind of game we might not have won last season so it shows how far we’ve come.
“I had a feeling the goal would come.”
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