DUFC 2 SMFC 1

United moved level on points with league leaders St Mirren after a deserved win at Tannadice.

And dear me what a difference from the last game at home. Everything that was lacking in the capitulation to Inverness was evident at the weekend - heart, desire, commitment and, most importantly, a tactical plan.

Laurie Ellis has taken on the caretaker role and he's done very well - two wins from two (eclipsing Billy Dodds' record of one win in one) - but what impressed me most on Saturday is that he made a change that ultimately pushed us on to win the game - he took off Smith (who I thought played well to be fair), bringing on Fyvie and pushing Stanton wide right. We then targeted their left back and it was from that area that we found our second goal.

We'd badly lacked that kind of tactical tweak mid-game under Ray and to be honest Saturday really highlighted how poor we had been. The good news is that our last two games have displayed to any potential manager that we do have good players and we can do very well in this league - under the right manager.

On the game itself. Durnan gave us the lead with a looping header that seemed to take forever to find its way into the net. I thought Samson in the goal for them should have saved it - he seemed to think it was going wide. United controlled much of the game and really imposed themselves on the game. The Buddies only joy came down the flanks where our 4231 does give away a little space, but Durnan particularly dealt brilliantly with the crosses. I thought Scobbie alongside him also played very well as centre half and I'm delighted that this may mean we'll rarely see Edge.

Speaking of the formation, it seems that we're actually quite good at playing only 1 up front, despite the howls from our fans to play 442 for most of the season. It shows why fans don't make managers. We've also started winning when we play Fraser in his best position as number 10. Again on Saturday every mistake he made gets picked up on and he gets so much more stick from the fans than he deserves. I'm not saying he's perfect - far from it - but he's an important part of our team.

Nobody played particularly poorly and the only real disappointment was that we conceded with the penultimate kick of the game, Lewis getting caught out by a dipping shot. It might have taken a little gloss of the win, but it shouldn't because it was a terrific win against a high flying Buddies team and we made them look very ordinary.

Moving forward and it'll be interesting to see if we resolve the manager situation before we entertain Crusaders next week in the mickey mouse cup. Lots of speculation about Tommy Wright at the weekend but I can't see it - if I were him I'd be sitting tight to see if McInnes goes to Rangers. I'd imagine Wright and Ross would be the primary (domestic) targets for Aberdeen if McInnes does go.

Chuffed with it and it's a welcome boost of positivity after the difficulties of recent week.

Mon the Terrors