Dundee United defender Paul Dixon has highlighted the spirit of solidarity that helped the Tangerines get through their East End Park examination on Saturday.
United travelled to Dunfermline with pressure piled high upon manager Peter Houston following reports that he was on the verge of the sack. Fresh from exiting the Scottish Communities League Cup at the hands of Falkirk four days earlier, the players knew they had to beat the Pars or the speculation regarding their gaffer would increase in volume and intensity.
As it turned out, United backed by a 1200-strong travelling support who chanted Houston’s name throughout played the opposition off the park for all but a 15-minute spell in the second half and secured a comfortable 4-1 victory.
So what was the secret of their success?
”We are all in it as a club Dundee United Football Club,” said Dixon. ”We are all in it together the manager, the chairman, the players and the fans. We win as a team and lose as a team.”
Dixon also believes the speculation of the last week was “unnecessary”.
”We have not got the results but some of the performances this season have merited more than we’ve got,” he said. ”We showed a bit of solidarity and pulled out a very good performance to beat Dunfermline.
”Also, we are professionals and we go out there and do our job. You must work hard for 90 minutes because that is what you are paid to do.”
Asked if he and his colleagues had considered the implications of defeat, Dixon said, ”We couldn’t think like that as a team because if we did we would have gone out there and gotten beat. Instead, we did our jobs properly and scored four very good goals.”
Dixon pointed to the fact that the win over Dunfermline fired United up the SPL table as a reason why it was wrong to put the heat on Houston.
Indeed, they now sit in eighth and are only five points behind fourth-placed St Johnstone despite a poor start to their league campaign. So Dixon is now hoping the snipers will stay quiet.
He said: ”That is one win for us and we have shot right up the league. Nobody is going to remember that we could have been bottom had we lost and other results gone against us.
”In a way this might shut everybody up so we can just concentrate on our football and get ourselves going in the correct way up the table.”
He added: ”We have just got on with the job and I think that showed out on the park.”
One notable aspect of Saturday’s game was the wholehearted backing given to United in general, and Houston in particular, by the away fans.
”We had a great support,” said Dixon. ”Dunfermline is not a million miles away from Dundee but they travelled in numbers. We gave them a really good performance and I hope this helped them enjoy their weekend.”
Dixon started the scoring off with a terrific strike that almost burst the Pars’ net on 13 minutes. He revealed his ‘baby’ celebration was an attempt to hurry things along as he awaits his son’s birth.
Finnish frontman Lauri Dalla Valle then made it 2-0 five minutes later.
The hosts were unfortunate to have midfielder Gary Mason sent off on 27 minutes for a late tackle on Johnny Russell, when a yellow card would have sufficed.
Dunfermline, to their credit, came at United after the break and had them worried on 55 minutes when Andy Kirk got a goal back.
United settled, though, on 74 minutes when Russell made it three with an acrobatic effort. He crashed a shot off the bar before he helped the Tangerines wrap it all up on 82 minutes, squaring to sub Gary Mackay-Steven, who lashed the ball past Paul Gallacher.
Houston was pleased to see his side play as they did.
”To score four goals at Dunfermline, which is a very tough place, is great credit to the players,” he said. ”The sending-off had a bearing in the match but we were winning before that occurred. We continued to create chances and knocked the ball about well.”
Dunfermline manager Jim McIntyre was frustrated that his team failed to win a home SPL game at the seventh attempt.
He said: ”I couldn’t have asked any more of the players in the second half they showed great commitment. Losing the first goal made our task harder though and the sending-off was a turning point.”