UNITED STRIVE FOR TOP SIX POSITION

United go into this evening's SPL match at McDiarmid Park looking to build on Saturday's win over Dundee. Full points this evening would take the Tangerines closer to a coveted top six position and help stretch the points gap over bottom club St Johnstone. Manager Alex Smith is fully aware of the importance of the match. "This evening's match is a very important game for both clubs. We have come off of an excellent 1-0 win over Dundee and almost immediately find ourselves in another Tayside derby against a team battling for every point as they attempt to maintain their SPL status. Nobody needs to tell anyone here how difficult it is to get away from the bottom position as we were there last season. The one thing that is definite is that they will be fighting every inch of the way. We, on the other hand, have given ourselves an opportunity to get back to the top six. To maintain that target, we will require all three points. We have come out on top in recent matches by the odd goal and I expect that it will once again be as tight this evening"

Alex again enthused about the quality of the youngsters breaking through at the Club. "It is very encouraging for the Club to have so many quality young players breaking through, players such as Gallacher, Tommo, Wilson (pictured above), Duff and McConalogue have all broken into the top team. We also have others coming up. Such as O'Donnell and Ogunmade who are both traditional wingers."

United are striving to have Danny Griffin and Mark Wilson fit for selection in a match that kicks off at 7.45pm.