Dundee United will be hugely frustrated they couldn’t kill things off in Saturday’s derby at Tannadice.
Two goals up and looking good for a key victory, coming away with just a point was a bit deflating.
There are things you can be critical of, Benjamin Siegrist in particular for the first goal.
Charlie Adam’s strike as well was a strange one with the swerve on the ball wrong-footing the goalkeeper.
All in all, it was a really enjoyable derby – far better than the previous two efforts.
And, for any disappointment earlier on, United could easily have gone on and won the game after it went 2-2 – Marc McNulty and then Liam Smith had great chances to put them back in front.
And, overall, it’s difficult to grumble when the team is sitting in fourth place with just five games to go.
Work in progress
Performances and results in the second half of the season haven’t been perfect by any means.
At times they haven’t been any good at all.
However, in a rookie manager’s first season, second campaign since promotion, United are in a good place.
Fans were unhappy at letting the lead slip over the weekend.
Standards are high at Tannadice, it’s understandable because of the recent history at the club.
But, for me, United are still a work in progress, having not long been in the Championship for four seasons.
Lot more to come
They are fourth and favourites to stay there when they haven’t played all that well this term.
Imagine what might happen if things properly click?
There is a lot more to come from this Dundee United side.
That’s really encouraging to me.
If they can finish fourth, a bit more cash comes from the league and European football can entice a different sort of player.
Come next season, if they add the right players and get the balance right in the team, the Tangerines could start flying.
Fourth place
The big job now is to secure fourth place.
I fancy them to do that.
Because, if they look at the rest of the top six they’ll fancy their chances against the non-Old Firm sides.
It is pretty much a straight shootout between United, Ross County and Motherwell for a fourth-placed finish – I’d say they are well capable of winning that tussle.
County have done fantastically well to finish in the top half, they looked doomed at the start of the season. That’s real credit to Malky Mackay.
While they are a threat, the Tangerines have taken seven points from them already this term.
And Motherwell have been pretty poor since the turn of the year.
The United squad will look at those games and think they can do it.
There is still plenty of work to do on that squad, however, and I’m sure Courts knows that, too.
But, a fourth-placed finish in year one is some going.
