Neilson delight with his Paw deal
Second-half goals from Billy Mckay and sub Michael Gardyne cancelled out Bruce Anderson’s opener to maintain County’s three-point lead in the table.
Co-boss Kettlewell admitted his team were poor before the break but revealed they sorted it out at the interval themselves.
He said: “The pressure is on and you have to thrive on it.
“When you are dealing with men who want to win , there are Robbie Neilson hailed Dundee United new boy Peter Pawlett for running rings round Morton – then promised there’s more to come.
Pawlett became an instant hit at Tannadice as his first goal in tangerine added to Pavol Safranko’s opener.
Bob McHugh gave Jonatan Johansson’s visitors some hope late on but the day belonged to United.
And Neilson said: “Peter’s going to be a couple of arguments and things thrown at one another but it is important that you react to that.
“It wasn’t our best game of the season but we came together as a group of men. It was a real show of character and togetherness.
“We made two changes at halftime and there could have been others. We were poor.”
The first half was the Anderson
Dundee Utd .......... 2 Morton.................. 1
a quality player. That’s the reason I brought him here and chased him so hard.
“He’ll get better the fitter he becomes – that’s for sure.
“We could have scored five or six in the first half. We were blistering at times.”
United took the lead in eight Show as the young striker lit up East End Park with his pace and intelligent running.
He showed stopper Callum Semple a clean pair of heels as he cut across the face of goal but his final effort was blocked by keeper Scott Fox.
With four minutes of the first half remaining, Anderson got his reward when he raced through and slotted home.
Gardyne and Andrew Boyle replaced Declan McManus and Semple at the break for County and they levelled seven minutes after the restart.
Ross Draper’s shot deflected minutes. Calum Butcher’s shot was parried by Robby McCrorie and Slovakian striker Safranko arrived for a left-foot tap-in.
Pawlett then struck in 28 minutes. Nicky Clark slipped him through with a delicate pass and the winger calmly slotted past McCrorie.
In 39 minutes on-loan Rangers striker Andrew Dallas thought he’d pulled one back for the visitors only to be into the path of McKay who converted from close range despite claims for offside.
It could have got worse for Pars a minute later as Brian Graham’s shot was cleared off the line by James Craigen but the Staggies eventually grabbed the winner when Gardyne blasted a terrific shot high past Ryan Scully.
Pars boss Stevie Crawford said: “It is a bit of a sore one. The first half was really positive and really encouraging.
“But the horrible side of it is that when we lost the equaliser in the second half, you can see the confidence goes from us.” flagged offside as he bundled the ball home from point-blank range.
Ton were then handed a lifeline in 73 minutes when Greg Kiltie crossed for McHugh to stab home.
But Morton couldn’t get a second and boss Johansson said: “The first half was unacceptable.
“Some players looked like they didn’t want to be on the pitch. We couldn’t cope.”