Tangerines urged to kick on in top six bid

Dundee United striker Lawrence Shankland hopes they can still make the top six following Saturday’s crucial 2-0 win at Ross County, writes Calum Woodger.

Shankland put United ahead just after the hourmark in Dingwall, as he started and neatly finished a breakaway move, before Ryan Edwards made sure of the points soon after.

The result in the Highlands ended an eightgame winless run for the Tangerines and put them right back in the mix to finish in the top half of the Premiership.

The Terrors currently lie in seventh spot – one point behind St Mirren – with five games to go until the split and Scotland hitman Shanks says their first victory of the year will give them the confidence to kick on.

“We just need to kick on and keep believing,” the 25-year-old said.

“This result will give us a bit of confidence and I think you saw that as the game went on.

“The boys were confident and I thought we were pretty confident throughout.”

Manager John Hughes says Ross County need to be a lot better as they look to stay in the Premiership next season.

The Staggies remain in the relegation play-off zone after suffering a 2-0 defeat against Dundee United in Dingwall.

Hughes felt heads went down after Lawrence Shankland gave the visitors the lead after the hour mark with Ryan Edwards doubling their advantage with 15 minutes remaining.

He said things have to improve all over the pitch and they have to do more to take the initiative during games in their bid to stay up.

“I felt we were just hoping to get there – we stopped playing,” said Hughes.

“We should have got the ball side-to-side and not let the goal affect us. We chased it too much.

“The second one, once again, it’s a habit of ours.

“We’ve recognised it and looked at it. We brought everyone back but we still concede.

“That’s really disappointing.

“All credit to United but I feel we’ve given them two goals.

“We need to be better at a lot of stuff, including our passing – we need to look after it better.

“Now we’re trying to evolve and move it forward, I felt it would be us trying to dominate the ball. But to do that you have to be brave and get on the ball.

“That’s the hardest thing to do in football and today, after that first goal, I just felt we played too straight and right into their hands.”