Tight bond crucial for Neilson’s United men

Defender Connolly praises striker Shankland and their 2-1 fightback win against Partick Thistle

Cruising to victory on day one of the Championship season was an ideal way to put down a marker for Dundee United.

But a comeback win on day two could speak even louder about the qualities in the Tangerines’ camp that Mark Connolly hopes will take them to title glory.

The points return from the matches against Inverness Caley Thistle and Partick Thistle were the same but the “togetherness” that the United centreback spoke of was required more at Firhill than it had been at Tannadice six days earlier.

“You could see the togetherness on the pitch,” said the Irishman, looking back on Friday night’s triumph.

“That’s huge. It’s going to be a long season and a tough one. We’ve not had an easy start but that’s two wins in a row now.

“The togetherness isn’t just between the players – it’s the whole staff.

MARK CONNOLLY

“There was a feeling the other night that we were going to get back in the game and win.

“There will be times when it will be about how we react and get going again.”

The fact that it took significant contributions from the United bench to overturn Thistle’s first-half lead was another big positive as far as Connolly was concerned.

“We have players going forward like Lawrence Shankland and the subs who came on against Thistle were outstanding,” he reflected.

“If we get the ball to them they will score goals.

“Some of our link-up play when we got going was brilliant.”

United’s fightback was partly a result of listening to manager Robbie Neilson at half-time and partly a result of sorting some things out for themselves.

“What the gaffer said was simple,” Connolly pointed out. “Do the simple things but just do them quicker.

“That’s what we did and we got the win.

“In the first-half we wanted to force it and Partick got into a compact shape.

“It got a bit slow. It wasn’t like against Inverness but we weren’t playing terribly.

“The big thing for us is that, while we were not as good as we were in the first game, we still came through and got the win.

“We worked it out and dealt with things.

“In the second-half they had one header from a corner.

“But, other than that, I didn’t think Partick Thistle had loads at our end of the park.”

It’s going to be a long season and a tough one. We’ve not had an easy start but that’s two wins in a row now.

Picture: SNS. Robbie Neilson and his players celebrate with their supporters at full-time at Firhill.