Jim Goodwin hailed his gutsy Dundee United stars for getting “back to basics” in a fine 1-0 victory over Ross County.
However, the Tannadice boss emphasised that United’s top-six fate is far from assured.
Homegrown hero Ross Graham headed home the only goal of a hard-fought contest in Dingwall, while the visitors claimed a laudable clean sheet to banish the memories of their defensive horror-show against Dundee a fortnight prior.
A six-point, seven-goal swing is now required for seventh-placed St Mirren to usurp United’s place in the top-half. But ex-Buddies manager and captain Goodwin is refusing to discount his former club.
“I’ve been in the game long enough to realise that it’s not done,” said Goodwin. “Until it is secured mathematically, we’ll not get too excited. We’ll not be celebrating anything on the bus on the way back down the road!
“St Mirren are in great form, they’ve got a couple of games coming up (Dundee away and Ross County at home) that I would imagine they would fancy themselves in.
“The goal difference is not so huge that it can’t be cut down, so we’ll not get too carried away.”
He added: “We spoke during the week about getting back to basics. We didn’t do ourselves any justice against Dundee a couple of weeks ago. There were individual errors and we got punished.
“So, we set the players the target of a clean sheet. From there, we always believe we’ll score.”
Sevelj handed centre-back task
Goodwin made two changes to the side that suffered that chastening 4-2 reverse against the Dee, with Ross Docherty and Craig Sibbald replacing the injured Declan Gallagher and Allan Campbell.
The Tangerines lined up in a 4-3-3, with Vicko Sevelj tasked with playing at centre-back in the absence of Gallagher and the suspended Emmanuel Adegboyega. Newly minted Scotland U/21 cap Sam Cleall-Harding was named on the bench.
County registered the first shot of note when Josh Nisbet skipped past Will Ferry on the flank and produced a fine cut-back to Noah Chilvers on the edge of the box. However, the midfielder’s low drive was blocked by Sevelj.
The Tangerines, enjoying a bright start to proceedings, got their eye in when Glenn Middleton whipped a left-footed drive narrowly over the bar.
Stephenson comes close
United were afforded a glaring opportunity to claim the lead when Eli Campbell misjudged a header back to keeper Jordan Amissah, allowing Luca Stephenson to loft a shot just wide.
A check of the subsequent collision between Amissah and Stephenson by VAR Greg Aitken deemed the contact natural.
While County No1 Amissah has been showered with plaudits for his recent displays, it was his United counterpart who made a decisive intervention as the half-hour mark approached.
A long throw by Campbell was flicked on by Kacper Lopata and, with Alex Samuel destined to prod home at the far post, Walton thwarted him with a brilliant clearance with his feet.
Graham redemption after missed chance
With the second period in a state of deadlock – the only event of note being a yellow card shown to Will Ferry for diving – Goodwin rolled the dice. Louis Moult entered the fray in place of Sibbald and the Terrors went 4-4-2.
United finally crafted the chance they had been waiting for when a Ryan Strain corner found Graham unmarked at point-blank range, only for the big defender to skew his header into the turf and wide of target.
Ruari Paton replaced Trapanovski for the final 20 minutes. Another attacking alteration.
Strain’s deliveries were causing havoc in the County box and Graham made amends for his earlier miss with a clinical header from another pin-point corner by the Aussie international.
Goodwin hails travelling support
Only an outrageous goal-line clearance by Campbell stopped United from doubling their advantage, with the rangy centre-half somehow thwarting a sweetly-struck Moult volley from eight yards.
Another golden chance came and went when Dalby headed straight into the arms of Amissah following a sumptuous clipped cross by Paton.
However, that profligacy was not punished and United were able to toast a pivotal triumph in front of their boisterous supporters.
“I think the recent criticism has been warranted,” acknowledged Goodwin. “When you don’t win games of football and performances aren’t where they need to be, then you’ve got to accept the criticism coming your way.
“We got lots of pats on the back and plaudits at the beginning of the season, It’s all nice when that’s happening.
“But we’re in the public eye; out there to play and perform. As a manager, I’m out there to make good tactical decisions. In the last seven or eight weeks, we haven’t collected enough points.
“So, the fact that we’ve had almost 700 supporters up to Dingwall on a Sunday – with all the transport restrictions that you get on this day of the week – is incredible. To make that trip back down the road a little bit easier for them was very, very pleasing.”
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