Heavy defeat in past for upbeat United

It may be the same group of players but Rachid Bouhenna insists Dundee United are a new team under boss Robbie Neilson – and they aim to ram home that point when they face Ross County this afternoon.

The last time the sides met at the end of September, it was a day to forget for the Tangerines as the Staggies won 5-1 at Tannadice with the defeat driving the final nail into boss Csaba Laszlo’s managerial coffin.

Since Neilson took charge though United are unbeaten and Bouhenna is determined to continue that run and narrow the four-point gap on second-top Ross County in Dingwall.

The 27-year-old defender said: “We have already forgotten that (5-1) game. It was very bad and that time was difficult.

“As a footballer you can either cry or you get back up and get on with it.

“We have done that, we have worked hard to get back up the table again.

“We have our confidence back, we are playing well now so it doesn’t matter what happened against them earlier in the season.

“We feel like a new team. It is the same players really but there is a new belief about the squad.

“The manager has brought something. It is hard to describe what it is but something has changed. There is maybe more sharpness about us now.”

“This is a very important game for us.”

Bouhenna added: “I think we have been getting better and better with every match since the new manager came in. If we want to win the league, then this match is big because we can’t let the teams above us build a gap.” Caley Thistle goalkeeper Mark Ridgers has set himself the target of carrying on his playing career for another decade.

Ridgers, who joined his hometown club last summer after leaving today’s Championship opponents Partick Thistle, has firmly established himself as John Robertson’s first choice having played 40 league matches in succession for Inverness.