Dundee United dug out a huge win at Morton.
It was the kind of victory that could mean the difference between winning the Championship and having to scrap it out in a play-off spot.
United’s squad is the best in the division but a side which could have run away with the Championship has too often found themselves grinding out results.
Indifferent home form has made the battle with challengers, Raith Rovers, tougher than it might have been.
But what matters is getting up, because the stakes are high for the players, the fans and the owner (more on this later).
Rollicking attacking play and entertainment would be great but at this juncture it’s a bonus.
The appetite and desire shown at Cappielow in midweek is the minimum required from a team which has plenty of talent but has struggled at times to impose themselves on weaker opponents.
There were heartening signs in Greenock for the run-in from a strong all round showing.
Tony Watt’s abilities are undoubted and mercurial inconsistency is often the mark of talent like his.
But if he can find performances more regularly like his Cappielow one, it will be a massive lift in the season’s final weeks.
Senior players like him carry a heavy weight of expectation from fans and team mates alike.
While it’s a tough burden to shoulder week in week out, it can be the measure of the man who rises to meet the challenge consistently.
Miller Thomson’s exciting emergence as an energetic and pacy full-back come wing-back is another major boon for United.
That kind of vitality poses serious problems for the opposition.
Cudjoe underused
And although he didn’t feature against Morton, I’d like to see the manager being bolder in his use of Mathew Cudjoe.
The 20-year-old still has plenty to learn about the game, and while I suspect Jim Goodwin understandably fears that in very physical games a more robust type of player is required, Cudjoe in a starting berth provides potential trickery and inventiveness as well as goal and assist threats to worry the rest of the division.
With Raith facing a major scrap at home to a renewed Dunfermline there’s an ideal opportunity for United to be really decisive and positive against Arbroath.
With a four-point advantage the league is there for the winning for United.
A little bit more boldness and daring from them, allied to the Greenock grit, can carry them over the winning line.
And if they breast that finishing tape I wouldn’t be surprised to see interest in acquiring the club or at least a significant stake in it emerging.
High stakes
The recent £6 million investment from Bournemouth owner Bill Foley in Hibs means dual interest restrictions in Scotland have been eased.
The easier access to European football and the opportunity to provide a platform for emerging players makes United in the Premiership a solid investment opportunity.
There have been rumours of interest from the likes of Brighton, who have a billionaire owner in Tony Bloom.
That would let Mark Ogren recoup some of his hefty investment and it wouldn’t take enormous sums from any new backer to see United compete again on the European stage.
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