'Character is key and United have it in abundance'

Jim Goodwin will have learned a lot about the character of his new look side last weekend.

They found themselves 3-1 down to Kilmarnock at Rugby Park midway through the second half, but they dug deep - very deep - to get something out of the game – Ross Graham’s added time penalty ensuring they returned to Tayside with a point.

Creativity and cutting edge are among the qualities that successful teams usually possess, but so is character. And Goodwin will now know – if he didn’t already – that his team have that in abundance.

In fact, sometimes character alone can get you something in the most unlikely of circumstances.

So that is another big positive the manager can take from what has been a very encouraging start to life back in the top division for fifth placed United.

It is just one defeat in their opening six league games – and if they can emerge with something tangible from this weekend’s trip to St Mirren, then you have to imagine all those of a Tangerine persuasion will take a real sense of satisfaction into the forthcoming international break.

However nobody at Tannadice will be resting on their laurels – the challenge going forward will be to try to ensure that they can build on the very solid looking foundations they already appear to have in place.