DAVID MARTINDALE hailed his Livingston players for winning ugly, before maintaining their feet remain firmly on the ground.
Martindale’s men ground out back-to-back wins to continue their recent resurgence as Ayo Obileye’s stylish 66th minute penalty after Jeando Fuchs’ foul on Andrew Shinnie proved enough to seal them three points from this turgid Tannadice encounter.
It’s been a fantastic few days for Livi whose horror start to the season had saw them rooted to the foot of the Premiership.
But manager Martindale was left beaming with pride after seeing his troops edged past Tam Courts’ Dundee United who’ve now won just once in their last eight outings.
Martondale, whose side face Ross County at home next Saturday, said: “There are different ways to win a game of football and that was one of those ways.
“Thought we were value for money in the first half, but in the second half I thought we could have done a bit better on the counter-attack.”
“The penalty’s a penalty, 100 per cent.
“I thought Andrew Shinnie was clever and Scott Pittman did well too, so I think it’s a penalty. Maybe a bit soft, but you can’t go flying in the box and make body contact like that and not win the ball.
“In fact, we scored a goal after it that they called offside and the boys were debating it. Apparently, it was onside, but I’ve not watched it back.
“I thought we defended with our lives. We were brilliant.
“But we still take every game in isolation so we definitely won’t be getting ahead of ourselves.”
United were desperate for a victory to end their recent run of stuttering form which has taken some of the shine off their blistering start to the campaign.
The Tangerines went into this encounter without influential midfielder Calum Butcher in the wake of his three-match SFA ban.
Butcher accepted a charge of serious foul play after only being booked for his reckless challenge on Celtic’s David Turnbull during last Sunday’s 3-0 home defeat at the hands of the Hoops.
Livingston, though, arrived on Tayside buoyed by having moved out of the relegation zone thanks to a much-needed 1-0 win over League Cup finalists Hibs in midweek.
The visitors were focused on securing back-to-backs wins in a bid to push further away from trouble at the foot of the table.
And they caught the first glimpse of goal as early as the third minute. Ayo
Obileye saw his shot blocked by the United defence, before Cristian Montano’s effort from Alan Forrest’s assist went wide of Benjamin Siegrist’s goal.
United were struggling to find their feet although Ilmari Niskanen did watch his shot go wide following Nicky Clark’s clever pass.
They did have a half-chance in 38 minutes. Livi failed to clear their lines and Clark spun inside the box, only to fire straight into the arms of visiting keeper Max Stryjek.
Charlie Mulgrew came close for United with a glancing header early in the second-half whicn flashed over the bar from Peter Pawlett corner
However, gritty Livi dealt them a sucker-punch at the other end midway through the second-half.
Fuchs was judged to have body-checked Shinnie and referee Gavin Duncan had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.
Defender Obileye stepped up and was the coolest man inside Tanandice to send Siegrist the wrong way from the spot after a classy run-up to the spot.
Obileye thought he’d killed the contest when he had the ball in the net towards the end but his effort was ruled out for offside.
It leaves United facing a frantic festive period which begins away to Rangers next weekend before facing Hibs and then St Mirren.
“It looked a bery harsh penalty from where I was standing,” said manager Courts afterwards.
“The Livingston players are streetwise and the referee pointed to the spot.
“But our confidence is still high and we’re looking forward to the Rangers game.”
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