Csaba Laszlo has expressed his delight at the pride his players showed in making sure St Mirren did not enjoy a promotion party at Tannadice on Tuesday night.
The Buddies arrived on Tayside needing just a draw to confirm they’ll be returning to the Premiership next season.
But their hopes were dashed by a third-minute strike from Billy King that gave United a much-needed victory in their quest to secure a play-off place.
And Csaba is hopeful it’s a win his team can build on as they try to rekindle hopes of going up themselves.
“It is a more better feeling than after the Dumbarton game, definitely,” he said in reference to the surprise weekend defeat at the lowly Sons.
“Generally, I feel we deserved these three points. I think it is always important you win against the first-place team.
“We have had a lot of not-even-bad games but bad results and I hope this can lift the team spirit. The next game we have is against Falkirk on Saturday and we have to look to keep this performance, show the same team spirit.
“The fighting spirit was pleasing and generally the team showed they deserve a better position in the league.
“We had pride to not give the chance to St Mirren to celebrate winning the league in our own stadium.”
Csaba, meanwhile, played down a spat between the two backroom staffs in the technical area in the seconds after the final whistle.
He admitted he and Buddies goalkeeping coach Jamie Langfield had exchanged words but felt it was no more than a storm in a teacup. It’s understood he was, however, less than impressed by the verbal volley aimed at him by opposite number Jack Ross as he intervened on Langfield’s behalf.
Ross later accused the United boss had made an inappropriate comment to Langfield, though that was strongly denied.
“He has to look first over his team and I think we have to also be fair to each other,” said Csaba.
“I don’t talk nothing badly. He has to ask first his own person.
“He is a young manager, showed the wrong emotion. I don’t think it’s anything to talk about.
“What he told me, I told him back. That’s all.”
This article originally appeared on the Evening Telegraph website. For more information, read about our new combined website.