Jim Goodwin says promoted Dundee Utd have ‘great chance to do something special’

Jim Goodwin is hoping Dundee United have emerged from their form dip and can now finish the campaign with a flourish.

The promoted Tannadice side have spent the entire season in the top half of the William Hill Premiership but they looked in danger of slipping into the bottom six after a run of seven defeats in 10 league matches, including a demoralising 4-2 loss at home to city rivals Dundee.

Sunday’s 1-0 win at Ross County, however, has all but assured United of a top-six place, kept them firmly in the hunt for a European place and eased the “tension” that Goodwin admits was starting to build.

“There’s a number of different circumstances we could talk about,” the manager said in an official club interview. “I definitely think nerves crept in, there was a little bit of tension and anxiety.

“In recent weeks, some big decisions haven’t went in our favour, which can happen. I think every team throughout the course of the campaign has had a dip in form at one time or another.

“Unfortunately, ours came in the last eight or nine games, albeit we played against some really difficult opposition in that time.

“We set ourselves a target at the beginning of the season of 45 points. We believed that was going to be the number (for top six) and it looks like that is going to be the magic number.

“We’re one point off of that with two games to go (before the split) and we’ve given ourselves a great chance. We’ve not been out the top six all season. I think way back at the beginning of the season, we would have wanted enough points to make sure we avoided the mess at the bottom of the table.

“But because we’ve been in the top six for as long as we have, the expectations grow and people get greedy, and that’s what’s happened.

“The criticism that we’ve had over the last few weeks has been justified. We put ourselves out there, I make decisions, sometimes they don’t work and I take the criticism on the chin.

“But we’ve given ourselves a great chance of achieving something special, I think, for a newly-promoted team.”

Goodwin hailed Vicko Sevelj as one of United’s key players this season after the versatile Croatian stepped back from midfield to centre-back on Sunday in the absence of Emmanuel Adegboyega and Declan Gallagher.

“Vicko was brought into the club initially as a kind of utility player,” said the manager.

“He’s been outstanding in the middle of the park. He’ll definitely be in contention for a (United) player of the year award, I would imagine, given how consistent he’s been.

“But the fact that he can drop back into centre-back, play alongside Ross Graham and do it as comfortably as what he did is great credit to him. I thought he and Ross together were outstanding.”