Jim Goodwin insists Dundee United have nothing to fear from their post-split fixture list after racking up a third successive 1-0 victory.
The Tangerines narrowly defeated Tayside foes St Johnstone courtesy of a first-half Emmanuel Adegboyega strike.
Declan Gallagher and Louis Moult both passed up great chances to double the hosts’ advantage, but United were forced to navigate a nervy finale as the rock-bottom Saintees chased parity.
But the Terrors held firm and are now nine points clear of St Mirren, who squeaked into the top six, and (pending Sunday’s results) occupy fourth spot, level with third-placed Hibernian.
“Aside from Celtic, we’ve had good results and performances against all of the other four teams, so we certainly don’t have anything to fear,” said Goodwin.
“We’ll probably be underdogs going into some of those games, given the resources that these other teams have available to them.
“The fact we’ve got a nine-point gap between ourselves and St Mirren could be significant, because fifth place could become a European place (if Aberdeen or Celtic win the Scottish Cup).
“But we don’t want to rely on fifth. We want to keep that push on for third place. We know it’s going to be difficult and we’re going to be facing some really good quality
opposition – but we certainly believe we can do it.”
St Johnstone self-sabotage
United emerged to an impressive tifo hailing the “United Colours of Tayside”, while the Saintees’ faithful had their own message to the authorities, with banners reading: “End the Alcohol Ban”.
It was the hosts who were close to toasting the opener after 10 minutes.
A slick move involving Ryan Strain, Sam Dalby and Glenn Middelton culminated in Will Ferry being teed up on the edge of the box, but his ferocious drive rippled the side-netting; close enough to fool a few Arabs into thinking the deadlock was broken.
Those fans didn’t have long to wait to celebrate for real as St Johnstone produced an act of quite remarkable self-sabotage.
As last line of defence, Daniel Balodis struggled to kill an awkward pass from Zach Mitchell and – panicked by the United press – he proceeded to shell the ball 40 yards out for a corner to the Tangerines.
A heavy price was paid when Ferry’s deep delivery was knocked across the face of goal for Adegboyega to prod home from point-blank range – a third goal of the season for the Ireland U/21 international.
Saints come close
The Perth Saints were dealt another quickfire blow when Mitchell’s afternoon was ended through injury. Sven Sprangler was introduced.
Nevertheless, Simo Valakari’s charges still carried a threat and Stephen Duke-McKenna curled a sumptuous effort inches past Jack Walton’s left-hand post after cutting on to his right foot.
Makenzie Kirk was the next to try his luck after the break, surging forward from the half-way line before skewing a shot off target. The flow of the contest certainly was not representative of the gulf in league standings.
The Tangerines tested Andy Fisher when another magnificent Ferry corner was met by Gallagher, but the McDiarmid Park No1 made a superb clawing save to thwart the Scotland defender.
Dalby fears allayed
However, the rhythm of the game – not that there was a great deal of that – was halted when Dalby slumped to the turf. He was subsequently replaced.
“Sam was feeling a little bit of tightness in his hamstring,” said Goodwin.
“He wanted to stay on, but he’s too important a player for me to risk at this stage, with the games that we have coming up.
“We thought the sensible decision was to just bring him off. I may have given another player a couple of minutes to run it off, but not Sam! He is certainly our prized asset at the moment and we need to protect him.”
A fraught finale
With St Johnstone’s campaign swiftly approaching now-or-never territory, Valakari threw on Benji Kimpioka, Taylor Steven, Nicky Clark and Josh McPake. And the latter fizzed a drive narrowly wide form the edge of the box.
Moult, on as a replacement for Dalby, blew a chance to make the game safe when latched onto a Luca Stephenson delivery eight yards from goal – but his effort was saved by the legs of Fisher.
And United were forced to navigate two huge scares when McPake danced past Strain and unleased a piledriver which deflected inches wide. From the resulting corner, Douglas poked instinctively off target. Inches.
With the last hurrah, Kimpioka curled another effort wide from a prohibitive angle.
Goodwin added: “We would like to score more goals and be a little bit more entertaining, but there are two sides to the game. One is about being organised, resilient and protecting your goal.
“I can’t be too critical of the team because it’s another important result at a really important stage this season.”
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