McMullan confident Tangerines can hit goal trail and turn around their fortunes

Paul McMullan upbeat but knows Tannadice outfit must start finding net

Dundee United’s Paul McMullan has admitted the lack of goals so far this season is a concern.

The Tangerines go into today’s home match against Morton having scored only five times in six Championship matches.

The only teams who have managed fewer league goals in Scotland thus far are Kilmarnock (bottom of the Premiership), Dumbarton (fourth bottom of the Championship), Forfar (last in League One and having just sacked manager Gary Bollan) and Cowdenbeath (at the foot of League Two).

It is a damning statistic, although in fairness it should also be pointed out that their defensive record is the best in the division.

McMullan certainly wasn’t shying away from it but remains upbeat about United’s ability to turn their fortunes around and start hitting the back of the net.

He said: “It is not good, to be honest with you.

“You want to be scoring goals and exciting the fans.

“However, we are two points off the top of the league so we’re not going to start to panic.

“The defence is doing really well and keeping the ‘goals against’ total down, so once we find our feet up top we should be OK.

“The manager has looked at getting a defensive base on which to build, and now it’s up to players like myself to have greater scope to go and express myself,” he said.

“I am hoping that between all the boys something can get going and, once it does, then we can pick each other up.

“It would be nice if three or four of us up there had good games together.

“I would never go into any game saying we are going to give a team a hiding but, given the lack of goals, it would be nice if we could get an early goal and then go on and score three or four. That would be nice.

“It might take a cross – I hit the post with one at Falkirk – that goes in or a shot that takes a deflection,” added McMullan, who has done his bit for the cause by netting five times in all competitions for United since joining in the summer.

“Maybe the confidence would pick up from that.

“We are working really hard to change it and we do have really good players here who will click at some point,” he added.

“We need to stay close enough to the top – we don’t want a big gap opening up.

“We have kept ourselves in touch so far and that’s a positive thing.”

“Once it clicks, we should just take off. Hopefully, that is what happens.”

United may have scored an incredible 13 goals fewer than league-leading Dunfermline but they are still just two points behind the Pars.

Indeed, a combination of a win over the Greenock men, defeat for the Fifers at Brechin and draw or loss for secondplaced St Mirren at home to Queen of the South would see the Tangerines reclaim top spot.

Asked if he thought people needed to keep that in mind, McMullan said: “I do, definitely.

“I feel the United fans have been really

good to the team and stuck behind us.

“When you get to the end of a game and you haven’t won then you are disappointed.

“That’s understandable and the players, believe me, are disappointed as well.

“If during the game they stay right behind us then it makes a huge difference.

“Of course, as fans, if you are watching your team only score five goals you know it’s not good enough.

“I am not happy with the way things have been going.

“If we can keep picking up points while not playing well and not having the best time going forward then that’s something to build on.

“We have 11 points and we would have liked it to have been more but it’s still not the worst start.”

Pictures: SNS. Paul McMullan is upbeat about United’s ability to turn their fortunes around and start scoring more goals.