Dundee United Manager Jim Goodwin spoke to the broadcast media to preview our William Hill Premiership clash with St Johnstone on Matchday 33.

The Irishman heaped praise on Sam Cleall-Harding following his debut, gave an update on the fitness of our defensive duo absent in the capital, discussed setting our sights on third place and cautioned on the threats of a high-flying Saints side.

ON A TERRIFIC RESULT IN THE CAPITAL

It was. I wouldn't sit here and say we were the better team on the day, I thought Hearts, in the early part of the game when it was 11 v 11, were the better team. But my players showed really good discipline and organisation. 

Jack Walton's had one very good save to make in the first half from Elton Kabangu, but apart from that he hasn't had a great deal to do. That organisation was crucial to us at the beginning of the season - it enabled us to keep several clean sheets and to pick up a lot of valuable points.

The last two performances in particular, albeit they haven’t been very pretty on the eye, they’ve been crucial in order for us to have get into the position that we're in right now, having kept two clean sheets and picked up maximum points in both games. 

ON SAM CLEALL-HARDING’S EXCITING DEBUT 

Sam is a player that we have got real high hopes for - he’s got a lot of potential. If you were looking at the profile for a modern-day defender, he ticks a lot of boxes.

Of course, he's got of development still to do but the reason we brought him back from Kelty Hearts was because he had such a successful loan period there in the first half of the season. We felt that if we brought him back in January, the hope was always that we could get him some minutes on the park.

The game at Tynecastle wasn't in the plans but the fact that he was ready mentally and physically to go and perform to the level that he did against really good opposition speaks volumes to his character.

James Wilson was in the senior Scotland squad only a couple of weeks ago, Kabangu is a real handful, and Lawrence Shankland came on for the last 20-25 minutes - he was playing against a really good level of opposition and more than handled himself. 

As I said still, there are still parts to his game that we need to continue to work on and develop but he's certainly got a great future in the game. 

ON ROSS GRAHAM AND VICKO ŠEVELJ’S FITNESS HEADING INTO MATCHDAY 33

With regards to Ross Graham, he had to be very patient in the middle part of the season with Kevin Holt performing so well, then things transpired with Kevin in the winter window and Ross got his place back in the team - he's been performing very consistently.

He's had a couple of little niggles which is what set him back on Sunday at Tynecastle, we're hoping that it's nothing too serious. It'll be touch and go for this weekend but we would expect him to be back available for the first game post-split.

Vicko will be a 50/50 for tomorrow. He's probably been, alongside Will Ferry, our most consistent performer of the season. He had a bit of a slow start in that first game against Falkirk but he’s really grown into his position and the fact he can play a number of them as well just shows what a crucial player he is for us. 

ON THE THREATS ST JOHNSTONE POSE 

It's not going to be easy and the past couple of fixtures that we've had against St Johnstone certainly haven't been a walk in the park for us, albeit we've picked up a couple of positive results. I have to take my hat off to Simo Valakari - I love the way he has his team playing, it's a refreshing way to see the game being played.

They have real bravery at the back to try and play their way through trouble, albeit there have been a few occasions where they've caused themselves one or two problems, but I think what he's done recently with the defence shows they have better shape about them - they look a lot more organised.

The players are really understanding now what the Manager is asking of them both in and out of possession and I think they've had six clean sheets I think in the last ten or 11 fixtures, so defensively they've certainly improved.

They've got players all over the park who are comfortable in possession and we need to make sure that we get things right without the ball to put them under pressure. When we do have the ball, we need to do a lot more with it than we have in the last couple of games.

ON AVOIDING THIS WEEKEND’S BATTLE IN THE BOTTOM SIX

I would not like to be Hearts, Motherwell or St Mirren going into this last game before the split! Of course, we're delighted that we were able to relieve ourselves of that pressure, but like I said before and after the Hearts game, it's not a case of us taking things easy now. 

The boys have worked extremely hard here this week in preparation for the St Johnstone game and we've got an opportunity on Saturday against the bottom club in the division to go and try and take maximum points and put more pressure on the teams above us. 

Depending on how results go, we can extend the points gap that's between us and sixth at the moment, so there are a lot of incentives still there for us as a group. Adding to that, we've got in excess of 10,000 fans coming to support us at Tannadice who are all paying hard-earned money to watch their team - we've got a duty to them to make sure that we perform to a high standard.

ON SETTING A NEW POINTS TARGET HAVING SURPASSED OUR INITIAL ONE

45 was the the target that we set way back at the beginning of the season and we felt that would be enough to guarantee top six - thankfully that has been the case and we've got a chance to exceed that at the weekend. To get to 50 points would be unbelievable with five games still to go and that would put us in a really strong position going into the split and try to grab one of those European places. 

I've said numerous times in recent weeks about how the objectives have changed as the seasons went on. In pre-season, it was about getting enough points to stay in the league. Then having been in the top six all season, it was about can we achieve that target and now that we're there sitting fifth in the table, not a million miles off the third place, we have to keep pushing and that will now be the objective between now and the end of the season.

I don't want to put too much pressure on the group and make it look like a failure if we don't get there because what the group have achieved up until now is remarkable. We've exceeded all expectations and punched well above our weight.

We've shown what togetherness, character and a good positive culture can do and we want to build on that. 

ON ROSS DOCHERTY’S STAND-OUT PERFORMANCES

I've spoken to Ross on a one-to-one basis about the importance of the next few weeks for him. He's only been available for half the games this season which is not enough for a player of his calibre. He’s such an important figure for the group and he's shown in the last couple of weeks the difference he can make to the team. I don't think it's a coincidence that we've looked so organised and we've managed to keep two clean sheets in the last couple of weeks.

But, again, I would have to give credit to the group because of how well we've managed to cope without key players all season - we’ve had numerous injuries. Even at the weekend, we lose two of the defenders that performed so well at Ross County, Ross Graham and Vicko Ševelj, then Declan Gallagher and Sam Cleall-Harding come in and perform admirably.

We've had to go without Ross for most of the season and someone else has stepped into those shoes -  that's what it's all about. That's why recruitment is so important, you have to build a really competitive group that, when injuries and suspensions occur, you've got other players that are of a similar standard to come in and take their place in the team.

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