Dundee United must rise to the high expectations of their fans, according to Declan Gallagher.
Tangerines supporters are growing increasingly restless over an inconsistent run that has seen their team lose three of their last six matches at Tannadice.
Tuesday’s lacklustre defeat to Airdrie came just days after a relatively comfortable victory over Queen’s Park.
United remain top of the Scottish Championship by virtue only of their superior goal difference to rivals Raith Rovers.
But Gallagher believes he and his team-mates must “thrive” under such pressure.
“The expectation levels should be high because Dundee United is a team that should be in the Premiership – simple as that,” said the defender.
“There’s no shying away from it. If boys can’t play under that expectation, then what chance have they got in the top league?
“You should thrive under that pressure and you should love that pressure and you should want to go out there and win every game in front of your own fans.
“Saturday was a great result for us but inconsistency has been a big thing for us this season.
“At the end of the day, it’s only our fourth defeat this season, but it’s not great because we know the expectations of this club and the expectations of the fans, wanting us to win every game.
“We’ll sit down, assess the game and see how things go from there – and we’ll try to get back to winning ways on Saturday.”
Tuesday night was the 33-year-old centre-back’s second match in four days following his return from a groin operation.
Gallagher had never before gone under the knife in his career and recovering took longer than he expected.
“The way I move, you’d think that was my fifth or sixth operation!” joked the United man.
“It’s the first operation in my career, hopefully it’s the last one of my career as well.
“It should be anyway because I’m feeling great. I’m just trying to get that match fitness back every game I play.
“The groin came away from the bone in the game versus Arbroath. I had a wee bit of inflammation in my ligament, so that was getting dealt with.
‘Progressive’ United physios
“Then my tendon also came off the bone. Only partially, right enough, but those kinds of injuries are tricky. If you don’t do it right, you can end up redoing it.
“The operation basically eliminated all of that, which was perfect for me. It took an extra couple of weeks but it’s sorted now and hopefully I can kick on.
“The physios here have been top class with me. They’re very progressive, they had me back on the park about a week or two after my operation.
“They pushed me as hard as I wanted to push myself and I need to thank them for everything – for even getting me back on the park – because at one stage I thought it was the wrong thing to do, getting the operation.
“But I’ve come back and I’m starting to feel the benefits of it now.
“It’s the business end of the season, I’m trying to get up to speed as quickly as possible.”
Conversation