Jim Goodwin is adamant there is no “doom and gloom” at Dundee United despite successive comprehensive defeats and several fitness concerns.
The Tangerines have succumbed to painful post-split reverses against Celtic and Hibs – an aggregate scoreline of 8-1 – to effectively end their chances of finishing in third place.
That has been compounded by defender Ross Graham being ruled out for the season and fellow centre-backs Declan Gallagher, Emmanuel Adegboyega and Sam Cleall-Harding all battling slight knocks.
Nevertheless, a sense of perspective is to be encouraged – and the newly promoted Terrors will rubber-stamp a return to European football if they beat St Mirren on Saturday, while remaining firmly in the chase for fourth.
That is the mentality being preached by Goodwin.
“There’s no doom and gloom here,” he said. “The last two results have been very poor, but we still need to remain optimistic and positive.
“We’ve got St Mirren, Aberdeen and Rangers to face and anything can happen.
“It’s going to be difficult to catch Hibs in third place. We would need to win all three games, and they would need to fail to win a game between now and the end of the season.
“But we do need to be optimistic that we can catch Aberdeen. That’s where the mindset needs to be.”
Perfect record on the line
United boast a 100% league record against St Mirren this season, including two impressive victories at the SMiSA Stadium.
The last time they won all four Premiership fixtures against an opposition was in 1998/99 when they secured an impressive clean sweep over Aberdeen.
Moreover, United also dumped the Buddies out of the Premier Sports Cup.
Goodwin’s charges are yet to even concede a goal against the Paisley men this term.
And the Terrors gaffer is acutely aware that his opposite number, Stephen Robinson, will be desperate to put that record right and remain in the hunt for continental qualification.
“Knowing Stephen Robinson as I do – having played against St Mirren and watched what they’ve done in recent weeks – I know that group of players are not going to stop fighting until the very end,” continued Goodwin.
“There’s a lot at stake for them, too. The results at the weekend have really put them back in the mix going into the last three games.
“We’re well aware of the fact that we’ve beaten St Mirren in every game that we’ve played them up to now. They’ll be hurting from that and will want to put things right. We’ll be prepared for that.”
Injury update
Goodwin will make a late call on the availability of defensive trio Gallagher, Adegboyega and Cleall-Harding after emphasising the need to stand up to the physicality of St Mirren.
All were nursing slight knocks at the beginning of the week but, crucially, none have been ruled out.
He added: “We have modified training this week for certain people and I’ll leave it as late as we can before making decisions.
“I have to be sensible with who I pick, because we don’t want anyone getting hurt. But, at the same time, we will need energy and physicality because St Mirren are one of the most athletic teams in the league.
“We will need to be up for a battle.”
Meanwhile, Cleall-Harding, Ruairidh Adams and Miller Thomson have been named in the Scotland U/20 squad that travels to face Slovakia in a friendly later this month.
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