Jackie McNamara urges Arabs to recapture form

Jackie McNamara calls for return of winning form Picture: SNS

DUNDEE United manager Jackie McNamara has challenged his side to recapture their pre-Christmas form in the wake of Saturday’s 3-2 win over Kilmarnock.

The Tangerines made it back-to-back victories as they emerged on the right side of a thrilling five-goal Scottish Premiership encounter at Tannadice, the win coming after they successfully reached the last eight of the Scottish Cup by defeating St Mirren.

Now McNamara wants to see his rejuvenated side try to recapture the form which lit up the league earlier in the campaign.

He said: “It’s good to get back into winning ways. That’s two good victories on the trot and both were well-deserved.

“That’s what we obviously want to see and, hopefully, it’s a sign of more to come. We know we’re capable of it as we showed earlier in the season.

“The lads are feeling good and are relishing the games. There’s plenty to play for between now and the end of the season and we want to win as many games as possible.”

Dundee United winger Gary Mackay-Steven gave the hosts an early lead but Alexei Eremenko equalised in the run-up to half-time before Kris Boyd put the resurgent visitors ahead in 63 minutes when he lobbed in his 16th goal of the campaign.

However, Curtis Good headed home a quickfire equaliser for the Taysiders direct from a Mackay-Steven corner and midfielder John Rankin completed the comeback with a spectacular 71st-minute winner, blasting into the roof of the net from close-range from Nadir Ciftci’s pass.

McNamara praised on-loan Newcastle defender Good and believes that there is more to come from the Australia Under-20 international.

He said: “Curtis has settled in well. He scored an excellent goal. He’s a young lad with a big future.

“He can continue to help us while we give him first-team experience, so it works both ways.”

Kilmarnock manager Allan Johnston urged his players not to dwell on the disappointment of throwing away their lead at Tannadice.

He said: “It’s always disappointing to lose when you’ve been ahead likewe were.

“Tannadice is a hard place to come to and win but we shouldn’t be giving them any extra favours with our defending. That’s what we have to learn from.

“Bits of our play were very good and we played some decent stuff. But the bottom line is results and we want to eradicate mistakes which cost us games.”