Ray McKinnon’s new-look Dundee United squad showed they are made of the right stuff with their against-the-odds win over Queen of the South on Saturday.
The midweek defeat against Dundee in the Betfred Cup derby would undoubtedly have taken its toll both mentally and physically on the players.
Then against the Doonhamers they were quickly pegged back after taking the lead before suffering the hammer blow of being reduced to 10 men following Paul McMullan’s rush of blood.
If you were a gambling man, you would not have been willing to wager that McKinnon’s men would come out in the second half and go on to take all three points.
However, they did thanks to Scott Fraser’s winner, with the team showing great character and resilience to do so.
That never-say-die spirit is exactly what will be needed as this season progresses and United attempt to secure their No.1 priority – promotion to the Premiership.
Obviously, the big negative from Saturday was the red card shown to McMullan and McKinnon will be hoping the winger takes heed of what was a harsh lesson after lashing out.
However, there were still plenty of positives for the manager to extract from the encounter.
It was good to see McDonald getting off the mark for the club and Fraser Fyvie will no doubt benefit from having had more game time under his belt.
Everyone connected with United will be hoping that come the end of the season, this gritty victory will be remembered as one of the key matches that helped turn the club’s promotion dream into a reality.
