Dundee United on fence over Charlie Mulgrew appeal as Steven MacLean reveals his one St Johnstone 'gripe'

Dundee United will decide on Monday whether to appeal the red card shown to Charlie Mulgrew in the 1-0 defeat at St Johnstone.

The defender received his marching orders when referee Alan Muir deemed he had denied a goal-scoring opportunity in hauling down Melker Hallberg. The 37-year-old now faces being suspended for the crunch basement battle at home to Ross County next weekend unless United launch a successful appeal.

Manager Jim Goodwin said: "I haven’t had the chance to watch it back so I’ll wait and see, and sit with the analyst. Then we’ll give a response.

"I’m reluctant to comment but of course Charlie has been a very important player. We’ll have look back at the situation. Was there a covering defender? Was it a clear goalscoring opportunity? And we’ll assess that on Monday morning and decide what way we want to go.

Dundee United's Charlie Mulgrew is shown a red card during the 1-0 defeat at St Johnstone. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

"But, if he does miss out then it’s an opportunity for someone else to step in and we’ve got good quality. Ryan Edwards is club captain and knows what it takes."

Goodwin was not too downbeat with the defeat, adding: "If we’d gone down without a fight then I would be very disappointed, but the character is there in the group.

"We are in a decent position if you consider where we were prior to the Hibs game. If I was sitting here still five points adrift, I’d be very concerned. But we’re not. We are still level on points with Kilmarnock, albeit Ross County have closed that gap.

"It looks like it will be between the three of us at the bottom and we have great belief in the group.”

St Johnstone boss Steven MacLean was delighted to secure his first win since replacing Callum Davidson as the Perth side eased their own relegation fears.

"I'm happy for the players and the supporters," he said. "I think it was deserved. We had to defend at the end - they put us under pressure. They are fighting for their lives as well.

"If I've got a gripe we probably could have scored more. We had 17 shots. That's 14 and 17 in the last two games which is good, but we want to keep building. It's only one win. We look to Motherwell next week and look to win the game."