The hosts took the lead in the first half through Jamie McGrath and then sealed the 2-0 victory late on thanks to a Steven Fletcher goal. It was the Terrors’ third win in a row and takes them four points clear of bottom side Ross County. However, United boss Goodwin insists there is still a lot of work to be done before cinch Premiership safety has been secured.

The Irishman said: “We are delighted. We have had a brilliant couple of weeks. When you consider where we were prior to the Hibs game, we were five points adrift at the bottom of the table. In the space of a fortnight we have managed to pick up nine points and take ourselves four points clear of bottom. So I am really pleased for the group and the staff behind the scenes who are working extremely hard as well.

“The supporters were magnificent. For us to have in excess of 8,000 fans here today considering how frustrating the season has been for them, it is credit to them and I am very thankful to them for doing that. I asked them during the week to make a big effort to be here and get behind the boys. It is still all to play for and it is going to go right down to the wire.”

Dundee United's Jamie McGrath celebrates after making it 1-0 against Livingston - although he later came off injured.

McGrath had to come off injured shortly after scoring the opener but Goodwin hopes it is nothing serious. He said: “I think we took him off at the right time, if we had kept him on it would probably have been a more serious issue. We have two weeks to the next game so he can put his slippers on and rest up. It was a good day’s work but we won’t get carried away. We are still in the mix.”

While United were obviously delighted, Livingston were left desperately disappointed with the defeat ending their top-six dreams. Lions boss David Martindale admitted: “I’m disappointed. That’s probably the overriding emotion. I think we could have played for 180 minutes and it would have been difficult to score. Credit to Dundee United, they defended very well. For me, collectively, from matchday 23 I think we threw away the top six. I think we had one foot in the door.

“We haven’t dropped out of the top six that much over the course of the season but we hit a bump in the road from matchday 21 to matchday 33. That’s where we threw it away. I don’t think today was the day we threw it away. We had plenty of opportunities before that.”

Dundee Utd 'still have work to do' as update given on Jamie McGrath injury - but for Livingston it's top-six woe as they 'throw it away'