Scott Fraser told the Dundee United supporters they should “chill” so it was only right that he warmed them up with two great goals.
Fraser sprinkled some magic dust on this game against Dunfermline at Tannadice on Saturday, firing home a terrific 25-yard freekick with his left foot before scoring a second goal with his right boot just before half-time.
That double proved to be enough to secure a vital victory for the Tangerines, who then found out they were back on top of the Championship thanks to St Mirren’s shock home loss to Dumbarton.
In the build-up to the Pars match, Fraser had joined the chorus urging the fans to be patient and not let any anxiety they felt affect the players.
Those words were heeded and the midfielder helped calm any nerves when he scored with the setpiece after 15 minutes then tucked away another strike just before the break.
Dunfermline hit back with a quarter of an hour to go through Declan McManus’s penalty but the Tangerines saw the game out.
“It was a good day all round,” was how United left-back Jamie Robson summed things up.
“It was nice to get the goals in the first half and we were 2-0 up and cruising after that.
“They didn’t have too many clear-cut chances. There were a few half-chances but I wouldn’t say they threatened us too much.
“It was good for the boys, in the end, to pull through and grind out the game.
“It was a massive result that put us top of the league so I’m delighted,” added Robson, who set up the second goal with a throw-in then conceded the penalty when he fouled Fraser Aird.
“That’s us now five games undefeated in the league – four wins and a draw – so we have to keep it up.”
Robson revealed that he tries to avoid marking Fraser in training, so full is his teammate’s bag of tricks.
“Everyone knows he is capable of doing things like that and it was great to see the freekick go in,” said Robson.
“We are all happy for Scott that he got the double because he deserves it.
“We see what he can do every day of the week.
“You can’t tell what he is going to do next so it’s difficult to defend against him.
“I work with him every day and sometimes even I can’t tell so it must be impossible for opposition players to guess right.
“There is unpredictability about Scott and he is two-footed as well, as we saw with those goals.
“Indeed, you don’t want to mark him in training because of what he can do.
“I try my best but he has such quick feet and is probably the best technical player I have seen at Dundee United.”
United manager Csaba Laszlo joked that he wasn’t happy with Fraser.
The Tannadice boss said: “Look, I am telling you that I am unhappy about it because he should have scored four.
“No, I am joking, it was fantastic because if he can score two goals in every game then it’s OK!”
Laszlo also praised the home support for being patient with the team, as requested, as they soaked up some late Dunfermline pressure.
He added: “I am always happy if I can make the fans happy and they helped us a lot, especially in the last few minutes.
“They encouraged the team and that was a fantastic thing.
“After Brechin, everyone was down because we had dropped two points.
“The pressure was very high and when I came in I didn’t know how it would be if we only drew or lost.
“I have to handle those situations.
“That is part of my job and I have to strengthen the players psychologically as well as physically.
“If you are mentally strong then you can win these kind of games and now we are top of the league and have everyone hunting us.
“You have to be clever upstairs and keep focused.”
Laszlo believes he will find out even more about his team’s ability to deal with the pressure when they hit the road to Greenock to play Morton on Saturday then head to Dumfries to face Queen of the South the following weekend.
He said: “Now we have two tough games away from home and I think now we can see the truth about how strong Dundee United are because if we can win these two matches then we can all have a nice Christmas.”
United now sit seven points ahead of the Pars and their unbeaten run against them stretched to a remarkable 12 matches – 10 wins and two draws – and goes all the way back to August 20, 2011.
However, Dunfermline boss Allan Johnston was full of praise for his players and felt they were unlucky.
Johnston said: “It is hard to take.
“I thought the boys played really well.
“For the majority of the game, I thought we were the better team.
“We had Dundee United watched a few times and they are a really good passing team and I thought we stopped them playing for the majority of the game.
“I felt that our guys in the middle of the park – Lewis Martin and Michael Paton – stopped (Fraser) Fyvie and (Willo) Flood getting on the ball and dictating the play which, the last couple of times we have played them, is what has caused us problems.
“We created a lot of chances in good areas but poor mistakes are killing us at the moment and you saw that at their goals.
“We need to cut out those mistakes because both goals could have been stopped.
“At the first goal, it should have been cleared by Higgy (Kallum Higginbotham) but it does look as though it has been a freekick on him. Instead, they won the freekick just outside the box and he (Fraser) put it in the corner.
“At the second goal, we were sleeping for two seconds at the throw-in and got caught – that was far too easy for them.
“After all the hard work, that was very disappointing.
“It was definitely a good team performance and is something to build on.”
Pars player Lewis Martin pretty much agreed with his gaffer’s summing-up, adding: “I felt we were the better team in the first half but lost two sloppy goals.
“We had been doing well, getting up tight against them so they couldn’t play.
“That was the game plan and it was working but we then lost the freekick and I don’t know what happened at the second but you shouldn’t score from a throw-in.
“In the second half the boys gave everything they could so it was disappointing not to get a draw.
“We battled away and were unlucky in the end.”
