Dundee United goal hero Gavin Gunning believes things are definitely starting to look up for the Tangerines.
Gunning was back at the heart of the home defence at Tannadice on Friday night but it was at the other end that he made the greatest impact, scoring his team’s second and third goals in an excellent 3-1 win over Motherwell.
The victory moved fourth-placed United within striking distance of the Steelmen, who sit one spot and six points better off than Jackie McNamara’s side in a Europa League position.
Gunning, whose double added to Ryan Dow’s opener before John Sutton netted a penalty for Well, certainly feels the Lanarkshire men are catchable.
He also has not ruled out pegging back Aberdeen, whose advantage over them has gone down to seven thanks to a combination of Friday’s result from Tannadice and the Dons’ defeat away to Partick Thistle the following day.
What has given everyone at the club real belief is the quality of their football in the first half against Stuart McCall’s side.
It was just like the old days, akin to what they were producing on their winning run prior to the festive period.
Gunning said: “That first-half performance was the best we have played since before Christmas without a doubt. Had we scored four or five goals they couldn’t have complained really.
“Once Motherwell scored in the second half, we went out of it a bit and didn’t play too well but before that we were excellent.
“You have to say that, just from that first half alone, we deserved the three points. We were cutting them open and some of our performances were outstanding.
“Gary (Mackay-Steven), Stuart (Armstrong) and Ryan (Dow) were excellent, as were the other lads.
“Dowser was probably our best player apart from me … only joking with the last bit there! That shows that we have quite a strong squad.
“Now we are looking up the league now and, hopefully, we can catch Aberdeen and I do think we can catch Motherwell.”
Gunning did not even realise that his second goal a deflected free-kick just after the break had gone in.
He thought that the ball had zipped away for a corner and he only ran into the box to prepare for the set-piece.
“It was brilliant to get two goals the other night, although I don’t know about that second one, to be honest,” he said.
“I am claiming it, of course, because it was a good strike and it was probably going in before it took the deflection.
“But I actually thought it went out for a corner. I moved to go into the box to prepare for that but the boys started running towards me and I didn’t know what to do.
“All I could come up with was a bad celebration.”
The Irishman has had a stop-start season but he feels ready for what could be an exciting run-in.
“I am happy to be back involved as I have struggled a lot this season with injuries,” he said. “It has been frustrating to hardly be properly fit but I feel good again now.”