He can rightly take credit for helping Ross County embark on an unbeaten league run that now stands at an incredible 39 games, but Michael Gardyne is determined the winning sequence of results will come to a halt at Tannadice tonight.
The 26-year-old swapped Dingwall for a return to the city of his birth during the summer and he admitted that he cannot wait to face his old team-mates who have made a solid start to their inaugural SPL campaign.
Gardyne has first-hand knowledge of the qualities Derek Adams’ side possess, but he thinks tonight’s result will prove he made the right move joining United.
He said: ”This was the first game I looked for when the fixtures came out and I am really looking forward to playing against my old team. They are 39 league games unbeaten now, which is simply incredible.
”They were on 34 when they came into the SPL and they have just continued it, which doesn’t surprise me as I know a lot of the lads up there.
”They have largely kept the squad that won the First Division together and I knew they would do well as they have players with an SPL pedigree.
”They have a good team who are all together and work very hard for one another, much like we do at Dundee United. They are solid at the back and don’t concede many goals.
”They also have some great individual players like Ian Vigurs and Richie Brittain and I really enjoyed playing alongside them.”
Gardyne continued: ”I don’t think they would have been feeling too much pressure to continue their run when it was in the thirties but, now they are approaching 40, maybe they are.”
He added: ”We are just concentrating on ourselves. We picked up a hard-earned point against St Johnstone last time out even although we didn’t play great.
”But we need to get back to winning ways by picking up three points against County.”
Boss Peter Houston admitted he is wary of the threat County possess, especially on the break, and he has asked for the home fans to show patience as his players look to unpick a solid rearguard without the help of Gary Mackay-Steven, who is still recovering from a knee op.
Houston said: ”County are on a fantastic run. We have had them watched a number of times and the reports say they are really hard to beat.
”They get behind the ball well with the 4-5-1 system they have but they can hit you quickly on the counter-attack. So that makes it more difficult that we are the home team and have to take the game to them.
”It also doesn’t help that we are without our best flair player at the moment with Gary Mackay-Steven being injured. We have gone through a wee spell over the last game or two since he went out where we have not had the creative spark that he brings us.
”So we will need to be dogged, hard-working and ensure that we are not vulnerable to Ross County’s counter-attacks.”