Dundee United should be treated as title contenders, defender Jaroslaw Fojut has insisted.
And that is despite their late collapse against St Johnstone, and failure to capitalise on an unexpected slip by leaders Celtic.
With Ronny Deila’s men dropping points to bottom of the league Ross County at Parkhead, United would have closed the gap at the top to just two had they held on to their one-goal McDiarmid Park lead.
Fojut dismissed the notion that their failure to see the game out had anything to do with not coping with increased expectation on the back of the previous weekend’s defeat of the champions.
“No, of course not,” he said.
“Look at the games we have played before. You cannot judge us by this game today and say it is a mental issue.
“We have played many games at the start of the season and won even when we were not on top of our game. So, no, I don’t think it’s an issue. This is just a one-off game.”
On the Tangerines’ title credentials, the Pole observed: “Every game I play, every season I play, I always think about the championship.
“Even if don’t play for the title contenders.
“But right now with the position we are in, the young players think we might be title contenders.
“We all think the same as the gaffer and he wants us to push Celtic. It will be hard because I know that doesn’t happen very often in Scotland. But we want to do it. We are a very brave team and we want to do it.”
Hearing that County had drawn at Celtic Park didn’t boost the post-match mood in the visitors’ dressing room.
Fojut said: “Of course it’s disappointing. I always say every game I play is for the championship.
“If we had three more points today the table would look different. But we have to learn from our mistakes. It’s good, though, it’s Christmas time and there are lots of games to come.
“But I don’t think we ruined the good work of last week by losing today. It’s nothing to do with last week, that was a different match and the game on January 1 is also another game. But it’s ruined our weekend.
“That’s a game we should have won. It didn’t look like St Johnstone would score until they actually did. We need to learn from our mistakes.
“I think we had a good run at the start of the season. But the team has been struggling with illness and stuff. Was I struggling with illness? I think half the team was struggling but it doesn’t matter. Everyone who played gave 100 per cent and was ready.”
United now go from a Tayside derby to a Dundee city one, with Paul Hartley bringing his Dark Blues’ side to Tannadice on New Year’s Day.
And Fojut knows that only one result is acceptable.
“It’s a big game for us, yes,” he said.
“We wanted more points from this run over Christmas but we know we have to win on Thursday. We are looking forward to that and we want to forget about today.
“It’s tough to be consistent over Christmas, especially with such a young team. We have to learn to be more consistent, though, and get back on track.
“The way we played is okay but we need to start keeping clean sheets again.”