Dundee United can prepare for life in the Premiership.
Chris Mochrie’s late strike secured a nerve-shredding victory for the Tangerines against Ayr United on Saturday, with the academy graduate pouncing from close-range after a Tony Watt header was parried by Josh Clarke.
The narrow win sees United move six points clear of Raith Rovers with two games to play and a superior goal difference of 36.
Even if the “C” does not yet adorn their name on the standings, the job is done.
Charged with rebuilding from the ashes of a relegation – for which he cannot be entirely absolved – while cutting more than £2.5m from the wage bill, boss Jim Goodwin has met his target in commendable fashion.
And Courier Sport was at Tannadice to analyse the action as United all-but claimed the title.
Chris Mochrie: The homegrown hero with a knack for big moments
Mochrie would be the first to admit he has not seen as much action as he would have liked this term.
But he has maximised his minutes.
When the story of United’s 2023/24 campaign is written, his contribution will be notable.
A last-minute winner against Inverness; a last-minute winner against Dunfermline; the goal that effectively sealed promotion at Tannadice – he has single-handedly turned three points into nine for United.
Still only 20 years of age, Mochrie will boast successive league winners’ medals, adding the Championship title to his League One crown while on loan with the Pars last season.
And for a Dundee boy to emerge as the hero on Saturday: the perfect script.
His fellow substitute David Wotherspoon deserves to be spotlighted.
He has endured a frustrating period sidelined with a minor, niggling calf issue but, as anyone who has followed his career may have predicted, when it came to securing silverware, he was ready to play a starring role.
The St Johnstone legend changed the game after replacing Jordan Tillson, picking up intelligent pockets of space, dribbling forward in possession and, crucially, delivering the cross that led to Mochrie’s goal.
Four in a row
The mark of champions is finding form and consistency when it really matters. Stepping up at the business end of the season.
The Tangerines have done that laudably.
Goodwin’s men have pieced together a four-game winning run, scoring 12 goals in the process, and keeping three clean sheets.
The triumph over Raith Rovers was defining, the 5-0 and 4-1 demolitions of Queen’s Park and Morton were comprehensive, and Saturday’s encounter with the Honest Men was nervy but, ultimately, satisfying.
This is their longest streak of consecutive league victories this campaign – achieved exactly when required.
And it should be noted that this fine run of results has immediately followed Rovers boss Ian Murray musing that United were “rattled” in the race for the title.
Consider that suggestion quashed.
Can United become record breakers?
This weekend marked United’s 18th clean sheet in the league.
They have shut out their opponents in more than 50% of Championship fixtures and conceded just 22 goals in 34 games.
Should the Tangerines keep Airdrieonians and Partick Thistle at bay in their next two games, they will register the best defensive record in the second tier since it restructured to a 36-game season in 1994/95.
St Johnstone, with 23 goals conceded (1996/97), are the team to beat.
United have flexed their attacking muscles on plenty of occasions; the front four of Kai Fotheringham, Glenn Middleton, Tony Watt, and Louis Moult boast 73 goal contributions (goals and assist combined) between them, after all.
However, their successes have been built upon a stoic, organised structure and, after the occasionally farcical travails of last season, what a contrast.
Planning for the future
United will attack the Premiership with ambition.
That much is clear.
No sooner had the Terrors sealed the title (in fact, they haven’t officially done so yet), than Goodwin was eyeing a place in the top-six for the Tangerines – speaking with drive and determination.
The joy of effectively winning the league with weeks to spare, is United can begin their preparations in earnest.
There is a swathe of Tannadice players out of contract in June and, while the club will no doubt seek to retain some, there will be other, more difficult, conversations ahead.
In Goodwin’s own words: “We built the squad in the summer to make us capable of getting out this Championship. The boys have done that and deserve credit but next season’s a completely different kettle of fish.”
Likewise, there are budgets to be cemented, targets to be identified and pursued, and a Premiership squad to be assembled.
Another hectic, testing summer lies ahead.
But it will happen against an altogether more positive backdrop than last year’s rebuild.
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