Steven Fletcher has experienced that sinking feeling before.
The interminable slide towards relegation; confidence seeping away, morale through the floor and a sense of looming inevitability.
A club doomed to the the drop.
However, the Tannadice marksman is adamant that is NOT the case at Tannadice.
Fletcher, 35, is battle-hardened when it comes to relegation dogfights. More so than he would like.
The former Hibernian and Scotland striker has endured relegation from the English Premier League with Burnley in 2010 and Wolves in 2012.
Fletcher was also part of a Sunderland side that regularly fought at the wrong end of the table, with the Black Cats eventually slipping down to the Championship a year after Fletcher had departed for Sheffield Wednesday.
The feeling of helplessness is one he sharply recalls, even if he can’t quite articulate what went wrong each time. But there is a very different energy at United, he contends.
“I’ve been through a few relegation battles with Sunderland, Burnley and Wolves,” recalled Fletcher. “The difference between then and now is the way it feels.
“There were times in the past when, even though we were not relegated yet, I felt it was coming.
“When I was at Sunderland, we flirted with relegation — the Premier League is tough and the bottom 10 teams are always in a battle. But I never felt like we’d go down. But that changed. Something just wasn’t there. It had that feel about it.
“It was the same at Wolves. I never felt we’d be relegated in the first year I was there. Then in the second year, there was a different feeling. It’s hard to explain.
“That’s not the case here. I still feel there’s something there with us. There’s a positivity. I still think we have enough to get out of it.”
Errors
However, Fletcher is acutely aware United must eliminate daft errors if they are to mount a survival bid.
The Tangerines were excellent for large swathes of Saturday’s contest against Aberdeen, posting 24 efforts on goal and creating a host of passable opportunities.
However, they conceded three woeful goals, with skipper Ryan Edwards enduring a particularly challenging evening as Duk, Ross McCrorie and Marley Watkins found the net.
It is a maddeningly familiar story for Fletcher.
“Individual mistakes are costing us,” he continued. “Things keep happening that suck the life right out of it.
“That is what has killed us this year. If we can eradicate them then we still have a great chance.
“We are all grown men and the lads know when they make a mistake. They hold their hands up.
“Obviously you would prefer it doesn’t happen — but you just have to analyse it and be clear about what you should have done. Sometimes it’s just about telling someone that we don’t mind if they put it in the stand.
“Everyone wants to play nice football, get the ball down and play. But sometimes you just need to kick it into row Z. Nobody can score against you from there.”
“I love that”
At the other end, Fletcher, so often isolated in attack this term, was presented with several chances against the Dons.
Jay Gorter made a wonderful point-blank save to deny the ex-Marseille man, another drive was deflected wide by Jack MacKenzie and he had numerous headed efforts on goal.
Fletcher continued: “I think I had more chances in that one game that I have had in any all season!
“So we need to keep doing that — put the ball in the box and we will create chances. I love that. The more deliveries into the box, the better. I’ve spent my whole career wanting that.”
He continued: “You could see (on Saturday), there is still fight in us. We have been questioned, people saying we chucked it and all that — but we showed there’s still a fight.”
But while some solace can be taken from the level of performance against the Dons, points are the priority against Livingston tonight in United’s long-awaited game in hand.
Victory would see them move to within a point of Ross County and Kilmarnock, with a better goal difference than the latter.
Defeat leaves them with a mountain to climb, with 30 points to play for after Wednesday.
“It’s all very well saying we played well (against Aberdeen) — we were the better team and all that — but all that matters is points now,” he added.
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