Ray McKinnon has asked fans for patience with his new-look Dundee United team.
But the Tangerines gaffer has refused to be critical of Arabs who gave their team stick in the shock weekend defeat at Dumbarton.
Ray was as disappointed as anyone by both performance and result against the Sons, particularly after a five-star display against Premiership Partick Thistle in the Betfred Cup just four days earlier.
Even so, he knows having put together his line-up in a matter of just weeks, peaks and troughs in the early part of the campaign are inevitable.
That doesn’t mean he can’t understand the reaction of supporters to an off-day.
“The fans were disappointed, they went down (to Dumbarton) on the back of a great performance and expecting great things,” he said.
“You only get that when your team has been playing together for a while. We are a team put together over the last six weeks so consistency isn’t there, but we are working hard.”
That hard work includes trying to do deals to bring another couple of players in and, despite his tight budget, Ray remains upbeat on that score.
“We held a bit back for later in the transfer window because we knew good players would become available and we’re hoping that will pay off.”
Meanwhile, there have been encouraging signs that injured left-back Paul Dixon could be out for less than the six weeks medics predicted after he had knee surgery a week-and-a-half ago.
Dixon resumed light running at the end of last week and, although he’s still some way from seeing action again, he may be back a week or two earlier than expected.
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