Dundee United matchwinner Tope Obadeyi admitted the Tangerines were had an off-day down in Ayr.
There was no attempt by the former Kilmarnock man to sugarcoat United’s performance as they scraped a 1-0 success at Somerset Park.
The three points were secured by Obadeyi’s excellent solo goal on six minutes and, despite some intense home pressure and scrappy play from the visitors, the Tannadice team were still ahead when the final whistle blew.
Obadeyi said: “It was the result that was the main thing because it definitely wasn’t great from us.
“Football-wise, I think it was probably our worst performance.
“I just don’t think we strung many passes together.
“However, these are the type of games you have to win if you are going to win leagues.
“Thankfully, we did that and can move on to next week.
“At half-time we knew that, even though we had the goal, we weren’t quite at it.
“The manager gave us a kick up the backside, to be honest.
“Mind you, the second half wasn’t much better.”
Obadeyi ran half the length of the park to get his goal on six minutes, riding a couple of challenges along the way before calmly rounding keeper Greg Fleming and sliding the ball into the net.
He said: “We had been defending a corner then we hit them on the counter-attack.
“I felt myself getting clipped as I ran and took an extra touch.
“The keeper came out and I thought I would take it around him and put it into the back of the net.
“We do a lot of one-v-ones in training with the attacking players so I’d like to think I’m confident in those situations.”
While Obadeyi’s strike was the obvious highlight for the visitors in an attacking sense, it was at the back – or central defence, to be specific – that United shone brightest in the mid-winter gloom.
Both Mark Durnan and William Edjenguele were terrific and their contribution to the victory did not go unnoticed.
Obadeyi said: “The boys at the back defended so well because they had a lot of corners to deal with.
“I think when boys come out to face big William they have a fear factor.
“He is physical, strong and a talker on the pitch. He has brought confident to the team because we haven’t been leaking goals.
“Also, Vinnie (Durnan) missed a few games when he was out of the team but he has built up a partnership with William now and long may it continue.
“We got a clean sheet and a victory so it’s not too bad.
“It wasn’t pretty on the eye but we got the victory and that’s the main thing.”
