Dundee United will bounce straight back to winning ways after their loss to Arbroath.
That was the defiant message coming out of Tannadice after their proud unbeaten home league record was blown away by the Lichties on Saturday.
The setbacks suffered by the Tangerines in an otherwise excellent Championship season have been few and far between.
It is worth remembering just how successful they have been – you don’t build 17-point leads by accident – and there will be no knee-jerk response to that 1-0 defeat.
Instead, there will be the same steady, measured approach taken to adversity by manager Robbie Neilson on previous occasions.
Ayr 2 United 0: September 14
The first league loss came, coincidentally, after a miserable home match against Arbroath.
The Tangerines had been on an absolute high after winning the first city derby of the season by yet another 6-2 scoreline against Dundee.
That feelgood factor didn’t last long, though, as they were knocked out of the Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Cup by the Gayfield side following a penalty shootout.
When they returned to league business, they were trailing after only nine minutes at Somerset Park when Daniel Harvie scored for the Honest Men.
An Alan Forrest spotkick with a quarter of an hour to go secured all three points for the hosts and made it a frustrating return to his former club for striker Lawrence Shankland.
United’s response to that result was Shankland-inspired, however.
He scored two last-gasp goals at home to beat Arbroath 2-1 at Tannadice.
The Tangerines followed that up with one of their finest performances of the season – a 6-0 home hammering of Greenock Morton – as Shankland bagged a hat-trick.
Alloa 1 United 0/Queen of the South 4 United 0: October 4 and 19
It was fresh from that terrific display against Morton that United would sink into their mini slump.
The Indodrill Stadium has often been a troublesome place for United and so it proved again as they lost 1-0 away to Alloa.
There wasn’t a good feel about this game even before kick-off, with news coming in that the Tangerines would be without key midfielder Calum Butcher.
The subsequently struggled to deal with the direct and physical play of the Wasps, who grabbed what turned out to be the winner after 18 minutes.
There could have been more goals for Alloa and the home side were worthy winners as they dominated the middle of the park.
A fortnight after that result, United made the long trip south to Dumfries to face Queens.
They suffered their heaviest defeat of the season thus far as they were destroyed by the Doonhamers.
As was the case at Alloa, they were dominated in the crucial midfield area and Stephen Dobbie’s double was added to by goals from Kevin Holt and Michael Paton.
It was at the end of this Palmerston match, of course, that the players united in the dressing room and pledged to go on a winning run.
That is exactly what they did.
There followed nine straight victories, a sequence that was only halted by a home draw against Dundee on December 27.
United 0 Arbroath 1: February 1
The Tangerines lost what they considered to be a poor goal and then failed to break down what was a well-drilled Lichties side.
It should have been a great day to be a United fan, with the confirmation that star man Shankland was sticking around beyond the January transfer window coming just hours earlier.
However, if watching owner Mark Ogren needed any convincing that United are not quite the finished article with the top flight in mind, then proof came with a pedestrian performance that lacked creative spark.
It was a tough watch from a United perspective and now they face the frustration of a free weekend before heading to Alloa on February 14.
There will be no love lost between the sides for this Valentine’s Day clash.
This Friday fixture against the Wasps may have an ominous look about it considering what happened the last time but United are determined to show just why they have built up a 17-point lead at the top of the table.
Despite the artificial pitch and almost bogey-team status of the opposition, the Tangerines will be strong favourites to get back on track.
Then comes a huge game at Tannadice against Inverness, again on a Friday night, with the second-placed side coming down from the Highlands.
Two victories – the outcome I expect – in these couple of matches and you can start talking about the Arbroath game as a bump on a road that will still lead back to the Premiership.
