Dundee United new boy Grant Gillespie believes they can still “reel in” Championship leaders St Mirren.
The Tangerines travel to Livingston tonight hoping to inject new life into their flagging promotion campaign.
Since their last league outing against Morton on January 27 – a disastrous 3-0 home defeat – the Tannadice men have fallen 14 points behind the table-topping Buddies and are three adrift of second-placed Livi.
That has sparked some talk of United’s title challenge being over already, an assertion dismissed by manager Csaba Laszlo.
Victory this evening at the Tony Macaroni Arena will send out a defiant message, see them move back level on points with David Hopkin’s team and narrow the gap at least temporarily on the Buddies, who face Brechin in Paisley the following day.
Gillespie, who just joined United at the end of the January transfer after being released by Hamilton, certainly doesn’t believe they are chasing a lost cause.
“We saw that St Mirren dropped points against Livingston but that doesn’t give us more incentive to win this game,” insisted the 26-year-old midfielder, who made his debut for United at right-back in the William Hill Scottish Cup defeat at Aberdeen 12 days ago.
“The incentive is still there regardless of whether they won, lost or drew.
“They do have a big gap at the moment but it can close.
“We have games in hand and there is a lot of football to be played.
“Everyone here believes we can reel them in but the way to go about that is not looking at what they’re doing.
“It is about focusing on each game and taking it one at a time.
“If we can do that and put a few wins together then the whole thing can change.
“This league has a history of that.
“I was part of the Hamilton team who went head-to-head with Dundee for the title a few years ago.
“We ended up losing it on the final day even though we scored 10 goals against Morton and went up through the play-offs but it was a battle all the way.
“So even though St Mirren have a cushion at the moment, who knows what it will look like in a few weeks’ time?
“This league always throws up a title race so it’s up to us to make it one.”
Gillespie has liked what he has seen already during his short time at United and feels that if they can produce a standard of play similar to that produced in the second half at Pittodrie then they can kick on.
He added: “We have good players and while there is a gap in points between us and St Mirren, is there a gap in quality of the squads? I would say definitely not.
“I have only been here a few weeks but can see how the team wants to play.
“The manager wants us to get the ball down and play but he has been stressing to us we have to do the other side of it as well.
“You can’t just rely on playing good football.
“You have to earn the right to do it in a game and that’s something we will have to do at Livingston.
“The performance in the second half against Aberdeen was very good and there are loads of positives to take from it.
“So we want to produce that on a more regular basis and keep it going.
“There is pressure at a massive club like United.
“I have only played one game but it was something I enjoyed.
“The expectation is on the club and the team but even though there had been a few disappointing results the atmosphere is good.
“It’s up to the new guys like myself to bring a freshness to the team and try to help the lads achieve what we want to this season.
“We believe we can go on from here. There are a lot of games left this season and plenty of football to be played.”
As for Livi, Gillespie can see similarities between them and his old Hamilton side that got up through the promotion play-offs in 2014 by beating Hibs.
“They have been underdogs in the league this season and from what we have watched on the video they work very hard,” he said.
“They look a horrible team to play against because they all do their jobs and they try to get all over teams.
“At Hamilton that was the attitude we had and once we were able to do that in games we showed we had quality as well.
“Livingston look very similar so it will be a role reversal for me this time around because we will have to be the team looking to compete and break them down.”
