Dundee United will make the long trek west to play Morton with a feelgood factor flowing through the club.
That is the view of midfielder Willo Flood, who gave an upbeat “state of the union” address ahead of the challenging clash against the Greenock men at Cappielow.
Flood feels United are stable, strong and have serious momentum behind them, having won seven games in a row.
Indeed, it is nine matches since they last lost, going down 2-1 to Morton on September 20 in a Betfred Cup quarter-final at today’s venue.
Now they just need to keep it going against a Ton team who haven’t been going too badly themselves on their way to third place in the table, five points behind their visitors.
Flood said: “There seems to be a togetherness about the club that had been missing.
“The only way you get that is by achieving results.
“When you start winning the whole club starts to gel.
“There seems to be a feelgood factor around Tannadice and about the city.
“The fans could have gotten on our backs at times but they are sticking by us.
“There is a difference, I think, in how people are viewing the team now.
“There was a lot of negativity about the club in the past and you could sense that.
“I came to a few games last season to watch the lads and even walking to the game you could hear people saying things like ‘Are we going to lose?’ and ‘Which United is going to turn up today?’
“I think now they are coming with a bit of optimism thinking that we can score a goal or two and keep a clean sheet.
“Looking at the players last year, I think because the results were so bad they lacked a bit of energy and drive throughout the team.
“I don’t think that was down to the individuals, it was just the general situation that drained the lads.
“I think if they were playing now they could be getting results and you would have a completely different scenario.
“I also think the fans understand the division now and what we need to do to win games.
“That all creates a positive environment.”
It says a lot about the wee Irishman’s link to United that he was attending some of their games while on the books of Aberdeen last term.
He was also a spectator for that defeat at at Cappielow two months ago because he was out injured.
Flood recalled: “I was down at that game and, to be fair, I didn’t think we played well enough on the day and Morton deservedly went through.
“They are going well at the moment so we need to make sure we are on our game in order to get the right result.
“Thankfully, we do have a bit of momentum but there is still a long way to go and we need to make sure we don’t get carried away with ourselves.
“What we seem to be able to do at the moment is dig out results and that is a sign of a team that is on its way to being successful.
“You think, for example, of Man United in the Fergie (Sir Alex Ferguson) days – they always seemed to be able to get a goal and dig out a win.
“We also have confidence and, for me, a player with confidence doesn’t think about things.
“A player low on confidence takes an extra touch and has to set himself up before he passes the ball.
“If you are confident you just go out and play your game with freedom, not thinking about anything like that.
“It is instinct – you do what comes natural to you.
“When you are going through a bad time and the team is struggling, that’s when everybody is that extra bit careful with the pass and frightened to try things.
“That is not how you would describe United at the moment – we are playing with confidence.”
