Saturday’s was a pretty worrying performance from Dundee United.
The Dumbarton Hogmanay defeat to a freakish goal was quite rightly glossed over given the exceptional run of results that had gone before.
And getting well beaten by a rampant Hibs was nothing to be ashamed of either, even if United were the authors of their own downfall to an extent.
But the way in which Ray McKinnon’s side were, in his words, “a wee bit lost” and “looking for a leader” after the Queen of the South match had turned against them, raises real questions about their title credentials.
Those two phrases don’t get applied to teams who win championships.
A break for a Scottish Cup weekend may be no bad thing.
The pressure will be off in Dingwall against a strong Premiership side on Saturday and that gives them a free hit.
The gap may have been bigger previously between United and Hibs than the six points it is at just now, but the challenge for the Tangerines to overhaul Neil Lennon’s men is a much tougher one than it was first time around.
