Steve Lomas hopes derby will see Saints finally reap reward

The Perth club have just a single point from their opening four games, after earning a draw with Motherwell. However, Lomas feels there were plenty of positives to take from their matches so far, other than a 2-1 defeat at home to Aberdeen.

Lomas said: “There is always pressure but there were a massive amount of positives [in our 2-0 defeat] against Hibs. If we keep playing the way we did, it will turn for us. We’ve got to believe that.

“We played a lot worse last season and got wins. We’ve got to keep looking at the performances and hopefully the results will kick in.

“Against Hibs and Motherwell I was more than happy with the performances and the boys didn’t get what they deserved.”

Lomas believes Saints and United will both have a point to prove at McDiarmid Park. He added: “It’s going to be a decent game.

“It’s a local derby and they will want to bounce back from Kilmarnock and we want to get off the mark with a win.”

United manager Peter Houston is sure watching a repeat of their collapse against Kilmarnock last week can help United triumph.

Houston’s side were uncharacteristically slack to let Kenny Shiels’ men run out comfortable 3-1 winners but he’s convinced that seeing a re-run of their mistakes will aid them. Houston said: “It was a worthwhile exercise to let us see where we went wrong.

“I don’t think there will be too many times this season when we have to do video analysis. But since watching it again on Monday the boys have had a good week in training so are raring to go again.

“Any time they’ve suffered a disappointment in the past they’ve always shown the right response in the next game. They’re an honest bunch of boys. So I’m hoping that’s the case again because this is a derby game at a place where we’ve done fairly well in the past.”

United have been tipped in many quarters to challenge for second spot in the wake of Rangers’ demotion to the Third Division.

But Houston is adamant nobody at Tannadice is contemplating any such talk. He said: “We haven’t been touting ourselves as being up there to challenge for second place. Maybe others put us up there but we certainly haven’t been thinking like that.

“At the start of every season, we always set our sights on finishing in the top-six first and foremost.”