Jim Goodwin has lauded the reaction of Dundee United captain Ryan Edwards after being dropped for Wednesday evening’s 1-1 draw against Livingston.
The 29-year-old produced below-par outings against Ross County and Aberdeen, resulting in Goodwin making the big call to replace him with teenager Loick Ayina for the testing trip to West Lothian.
The Frenchman did his chance of retaining the jersey no harm with a solid showing in a tough fixture.
But Goodwin is quick to emphasise that Edwards still has a huge part to play for the remainder of the campaign — after this “reset”.
“Ryan (Edwards) is the club captain and is a very honest big fella,” said Goodwin. “He understands that his own performances, individually, haven’t quite been where they need to be.
“It’s really important that the group knows that it doesn’t matter whether you are one of the most experienced players in the team, the captain, or one of the younger ones. If the performances are not at the level required then you risk coming out of the team.Â
“Ryan’s reaction was excellent, he was encouraging the boys before the game and will be an important player for us between now and the end of the season.
“Sometimes players need to come out of the team to hit the reset button and go again.”
He added: “I was very pleased with Loick (Ayina) coming in. I thought he was excellent — very assured. For a young centre-half, he played with a lot of maturity, which was great to see.”
Levitt sweat
Another notable alteration to the Tangerines’ starting line-up saw Dylan Levitt replaced by Sadat Anaku.
Goodwin confirmed that Levitt missed out due to a knee injury, with United’s medical staff set to ascertain the severity of the set-back in the coming days.
He added: “Unfortunately, Dylan picked up a knock last weekend. He tweaked his knee, so that kept him out. We will have to assess that and see how it is.”
After being dumped out of the Scottish Cup by Kilmarnock, United now have a free weekend prior to returning to action with the visit of St Mirren on March 18.
“The break we have now will be massive for us,” added Goodwin. “We can go into these 10 days and work extremely hard on what we have to improve on.”
Bill Hamid deal off
Meanwhile, Goodwin confirmed that United will not be pursuing a move for USA international goalkeeper Bill Hamid following face-to-face talks with the former DC United star earlier this week.
“There were conversations going on prior to me coming in,” said Goodwin. “Bill came over, had a look around the place and we had a conversation with him.
“We’ve decided to go in a different direction, with regards to that one.”
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