There is still some way to go to better the 17-match tally recorded under Tommy McLean’s management in season 1996-97, and the Hibees will be determined to do the double over the Tangerines when they visit on Wednesday.

However, Feeney, who grabbed his first goal for United in the enthralling win over Aberdeen on Saturday that consolidated their place in third, believes they can continue to spook the rest of the SPL.

“The run we are on just now is frightening,” said the Northern Ireland international.

“To have had a shaky start to the season and be where we are now is tremendous.

“It just shows you what a good bunch of boys we have here, and credit to the coaching staff because everyone stayed relaxed and just knew it would come good.

“To have gone nine games unbeaten is fantastic for any team at this level. Now we want to make it 10 then 11 and so on.”

Feeney admitted he was in need of a goal and was delighted to notch what proved to be the difference between the two sides.

He latched on to a low Paul Dixon cross and bundled the ball over the line from a few inches out on 14 minutes, and hopes there will be a few more to follow.

“It is always nice to get off the mark,” Feeney added.

“If the team is playing well and winning then that is what is most important and I guess I am old enough and have played enough games to know that a goal would come eventually for me.

“It has been a bit stop-start for me but I felt Tuesday night at Ibrox (the 3-3 draw with Rangers) was the real start of my season.

“Against Aberdeen, I think we were different class in the first half but fair play to them because they really came at us in the second half.

“We got the three points, though, and that’s what matters.”

United were all over the Dons in the opening stages and they got a gift of a first goal when terrible defending by Scott Severin and Zander Diamond allowed Francisco Sandaza to nip in and poke the ball home after just eight minutes.

Feeney grabbed his team’s second and then should have made it plain sailing for United as the visitors were all at sea at this stage.

When Sandaza’s strike was parried by Aberdeen keeper Jamie Langfield with just 19 minutes gone, the ball fell to Feeney but the striker sclaffed his shot and it sailed over the bar.

“Sometimes you snatch at things and I leaned back a bit but I am sure next time I will get it right then go on and get a few more,” Feeney said.

It should have been 3-0 and counting but the Dons dug deep and began to play themselves back into the match.

They had to wait until the 66th minute to find the net, with Darren Mackie nodding a Lee Miller knock-on past home goalie Lukasz Zaluska.

With just a couple of minutes of regulation time remaining, they had the ball in the net again through Mackie but the frontman was deemed to be offside.

Had that goal stood it would have put a fairer reflection on the scoreline, according to Dons defender Diamond.

“We gifted them two goals and had a mountain to climb after that,” he said.

“At the first one we needed to clear the ball as defenders but didn’t do that. Darren Dods and Lee Wilkie clear their lines but we didn’t.

“But the reaction from the boys was tremendous. We didn’t buckle, regrouped at half-time then got a goal back and could have drawn at the end.

“That (the offside decision) was one that could have gone either way but it went against us.

“Our performance in the second half still gave us a few positives to take into tomorrow’s game against St Mirren.”

As feisty as Aberdeen’s fightback was, United manager Craig Levein argued his team should have been out of sight.

As well as Feeney’s miss, Sandaza sent a shot past from point-blank range in the second period, although the Spaniard was by then carrying a knock courtesy of Diamond’s challenge a minute earlier.

“We could have had the game finished in the first half,” Levein said.

“I was thrilled with the way we started; we looked solid and didn’t look like we were under pressure.

“The best two chances of the game fell to us, with both Sandaza and Feeney missing sitters.

“Two up is a funny score but three generally means it’s all over. But, credit to Aberdeen, they had nothing to lose after that and had a go and we had to defend resolutely.”

Levein felt some of his charges looked exhausted by the end following what has been a punishing schedule that will continue in midweek.

“We have played the same players in defence and midfield for the last nine games or so and they looked like they were running on empty at the end so maybe we should have made some changes,” he said.

“It’s usually constant from us for 90 minutes but there were lulls in the game and we caused ourselves problems.”

To combat the fatigue, Levein gave his men yesterday off and is considering resting them today as well.

“Hopefully that does the trick, if not then I will be kicking myself after the Hibs game,” he said.

“We go again on Wednesday night and we will see if we can keep this run going.”

Aberdeen gaffer Jimmy Calderwood, meanwhile, insisted his players only had themselves to blame.

“Yet again we shot ourselves in the foot,” he said.

“We thought we had eradicated that early in the season after getting ourselves into a bad, bad position.

“But it’s haunting us and we are gifting teams goals and making it easy for the opposition.

“There is always hope in football and, to be fair, we did well in the second half but we can’t keep giving teams the lead. It doesn’t give you much of a chance in football games.

“We have proved we can match anyone in this league if we stop giving away presents.”

Saturday’s game was watched by Scotland boss George Burley, with United trio Lee Wilkie, Scott Robertson and Craig Conway understood to have done their call-up prospects a power of good.

l Aberdeen have announced the most successful trading results in their history.

The Dons have released their annual financial data to June 30, which revealed an operating profit of £2.3 million, a bottom-line profit of £1.1 million and a turnover of £12.9 million.

The club’s net bank debt of £6.5 million is at its lowest level for many years.