A top six finish on their return to Premiership football is a superb achievement for Jim Goodwin and Dundee United.
With the gap they have now opened up on Hearts it looks like it will be even better than just top six.
European football next season is a distinct possibility.
And this United side will have no fear of the other sides in the top half.
They’ve beaten Aberdeen and Hibs this season and have drawn at Rangers.
United are a tough unit to break down and that will stand them in good stead in the six games remaining.
There is room for improvement, no doubt, but there is real character there.
The response from the derby defeat has shown that clearly. You can imagine the sorts of conversations they had behind the scenes after that one.
But United have come back with two 1-0 wins away from home and sailed into the top six.
Doing so with completely different defences in two tough trips.
Sam Cleall-Harding
Declan Gallagher was injured, Emmanuel Adegoyeba suspended then Vicko Sevelj was out at Hearts and Ross Graham pulled out in the warm-up.
So it was Sam Cleall-Harding’s turn.
A big moment for a young player to make his debut. The pressure was on but he dealt with it well.
It can’t go much better on debut than keeping a clean sheet at Tynecastle.
He was up against some of the top strikers in the country and it was a huge learning curve for him.
I think it being a last-minute decision with Graham’s injury in the warm-up maybe helped.
There are a lot of young footballers who maybe have notice of their place in the team and end up thinking themselves out of a performance, overthinking things the night before and the like, getting nervous.
Instead he’s been able to go straight into a game and allowed his natural ability to come through.
Mulgrew comparison
I also heard he’d been compared to me pre-match by Charlie Mulgrew!
It took me by surprise, I don’t know if many viewers on Premier Sports actually remembered the way I played! Or John Kennedy.
Guys like myself and John Kennedy, an excellent player, it was all about defending. Doing your job for the team, which was pretty much just about stopping the other side.
Modern football expects defenders to be able to play out from the back and it looks like Sam, as well as being big and able to defend, can play a bit too.
I know Sam has had a bad knee injury to come back from – maybe that’s where the comparison comes!
I know when I was a young player coming through I was very rash, very raw. I just wanted to tackle everything and everybody every chance I got.
People probably noticed that.
You realise very quickly when you step up the levels that you get nowhere near as much time on the ball, you are up against better players and need to move the ball quickly.
I would get caught out early on and that experience will come with games.
The prime example for Sam is Ross Graham. He’s a young defender who has found the balance you need at this level very quickly.
It will be interesting to see who gets the nod next weekend.
St Johnstone will come to Tannadice full of confidence after beating Celtic.
United should be bullish going into this one but they can’t afford to take it lightly.
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