Fraser Aird is determined to make Dundee United the setpiece experts of the Championship.
Aird’s deadball delivery was a highlight of the 3-1 win over Partick Thistle, especially the freekick that teed up Paul Watson’s opening goal.
His colleague Yannick Loemba got in on the act with a corner that landed right on Watson’s forehead for the second before Aird laid on a tap-in for Craig Curran from open play for number three.
Now, as he prepares to travel with this Tannadice teammates to Alloa this afternoon, Aird is looking to pepper the opposition box with cross after cross.
Aird said: “Hopefully, we can keep up that sort of delivery all season.
“Set-plays are one of the things I’m really good at.
“I like getting balls into the box for people to attack,” added the Canadian international.
“We have already scored a few goals from set-pieces this season.
“I think it shows the work we are doing on the training ground is paying off.
“We have quite a tall side, including our centre-backs (Watson and Frederic Frans), Adam Barton in midfield and Pavol Safranko up front.
“Also, there are others who are really good in the air like Nicky Clark so there are a lot of boys who can get up there and connect with crosses if we give them the right ammunition.
“Big Freddy is going up for long throws as well so we have plenty of goal threat.”
A trip to play the part-time Wasps may be, on paper, one of the more winnable fixtures on the schedule.
However, Aird certainly won’t take them lightly and United boss Csaba Laszlo took note of Alloa’s draw up at Inverness last weekend.
Aird added: “It’s a tough league, especially with the kind of teams who have come down and the results we have already seen.
“I think everyone had the potential to beat everyone.
“We all know what the Championship is like.
“St Mirren obviously earned themselves a good lead last season by going on a strong run.
“I would like to think we can do that this season and then others can be sitting there looking up at us.
“That’s two wins on the bounce for us now so if we can take care of our side of business it should stand us in good stead.
The victory over the Jags made it consecutive league wins for United, coming as it did on the back of the success down at Queen of the South.
It would be disappointing, to say the least, if they could not make it a hat-trick against Alloa.
Aird said: “It’s always good when you’re winning and scoring early against Partick helped as it settled the crowd down a bit.
“That’s not going to happen every game, but from the Queen of the South victory recently we’ve taken confidence from there into the Thistle game.
“Results breeds confidence. So we just want to push on as much as possible and see where it takes us.”
