Now he’s got to know his players, Robbie Neilson believes he has a Dundee United squad ready to win promotion.
Just short of two months into the job, the new manager has been impressed by the quality of his players.
Crucially, that includes those who’ve come into the team as injuries have kicked in during the build-up to matches and in them.
He cited striker Craig Curran as a perfect example of that as he came on in Tuesday’s clash with Alloa and grabbed an important goal to seal victory.
“Craig came on and did well. He hasn’t played as much as he would like but we spoke to him about coming on and making runs into the channels and he did exactly what we wanted,” he said.
“He got the fourth goal, and while I think we would have seen the game out at 3-2, it made things more comfortable.
“Squad-wise, it is pleasing because we have guys who can come in and do a job.
“There was also Christoph Rabitsch coming in for Fraser Fyvie and doing a good job. That’s heading in the right direction.”
And while he will demand a better performance than Tuesday’s when league leaders Ayr come to Tannadice next Friday, he’s continued to be forgiving about the last display.
“You need to win different types of games when you are challenging for a league.
“We’ve played quite a few games and won by playing good football, then we won at Ross County when it was backs to the wall by being strong and defending well.
“This time we’ve won and taken three points from a game where we know we didn’t play well at all.
“At the end of the season when we add up the points, nobody is going to be bothered about a Tuesday night against Alloa when we didn’t hit the heights we can.
“We found a way to win and that was the important thing.”
United will have skipper Fyvie back for the Ayr clash after it was decided not to risk him against the Wasps.
The midfielder hurt a hamstring up at Ross County earlier this month but was back in full training by Monday. With that big game next week looming Robbie decided not to risk him.
“He was keen to go on the bench and with 20 minutes to go I would have been tempted to put him on but if something flares up we could have lost him again.”
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