Dundee United striker Scott McDonald wants the team to “kick on” when they play Dumbarton once again.
The Tangerines gave their fragile confidence a boost by beating the Sons 2-0 at Tannadice on Tuesday night and thereby setting themselves up nicely for the second part of the double-header today at the YOUR Radio 103FM Stadium.
Crucially, the victory pushed them back into fourth spot and back into promotion play-off contention.
Now McDonald is desperate for United to build on that modest achievement and secure another three points.
The Australian said: “We’ll take that win against Dumbarton because it was a long time coming.
“The key thing now is building on it and we can do that when we play them again.
“Playing them down there is always a tough ask and the club’s recent record shows it has been a difficult place for United.
“They will probably give us an even tougher test than they did the other night.
“I didn’t feel any new pressure going into Tuesday’s game because, to be honest, it has been there from day one.
“I suppose it has become stronger because of the failure of our performances and results.
“You just have to keep going.
“We didn’t play badly against Morton, although it was a bad result, and then we beat Dumbarton.
“So we have been building our confidence up and it helped on Tuesday night that we got our goals early.
“The second one just before half-time certainly helped us.
“So I certainly hope that we can kick on now.
“That is the aim and that is the hope.”
United sit level on 49 points with third-placed Dunfermline in the Championship, having played two games fewer than the Pars, while second-placed Livingston are on the 55-mark having played one fixture more than the Tannadice team.
So the runners-up spot behind St Mirren is still there for United if they have the ability and desire to claim it.
McDonald added: “If we can get maximum points from Dumbarton then you never know what can happen in the final few weeks of the season.
“I note that Livingston lost in midweek there (1-0 to the Pars) so let’s just see what happens.
“We can’t really afford to look at what other teams are doing, though, because we need to look at ourselves first and foremost.
“We must start doing things on the pitch and getting results.
“We have to try to get the fans believing that we still have an opportunity of reaching the Premiership.”
McDonald, like the rest of his teammates, has given Bilel Mohsni a warm welcome to the club and he would love it if the big central defender keeps scoring after grabbing a goal apiece against Morton and Dumbarton.
He said: “You can see that Bilel is a character!
“I think he was wrongly labelled because everyone makes mistakes, don’t they?
“I played in that game (the infamous play-off clash between Mohsni’s Rangers and McDonald’s Motherwell) and I think what we can take from that is that he is a winner.
“Of course, there are ways to show that and ways not to show that but he is a great lad.
“He has not been one bit of trouble or craziness that everyone talks about.
“He is a calm gentleman.
“He does have fire in his belly out on the park and he definitely doesn’t like losing but these are good things.
“He has been a great addition the squad.
“He has great experience, wins ball and likes to play out – sometimes you have your heart in your mouth.
“But so far, so good and I hope it stays that way.”
