Dundee United do not want to allow a huge gap develop between the side challenging for Europe.

Hearts picking up three points on Saturday was the boost Dundee United needed to drive them forward to their own win. Jon Daly managed to get both goals in the game against St Mirren, which consigned the Paisley side to the bottom of the league. United went into their Love Street clash six points off third place in the SPL following the Tynecastle side's 2-1 lunchtime win. With the race for European football in mind, Daly did not want that gap to last for long and was on hand to head home Willo Flood's cross in the 37th minute and converting a late penalty as United won 2-0. The Irishman said: "Hearts in the early kick-off got a great result against Rangers, so we knew that going into the game that three points was what we needed. I thought we started really well and when we got the goal we were dominating the game. The second half, we knew they would throw everything at us, which they did, and they were unlucky when they hit the crossbar. Then Craig Conway did brilliantly to win the penalty. I think Willo Flood wanted it but there was no chance he was going to take it! I stuck it away and it turned out to be a comfortable three points."

Manager Craig Levein made three changes to his squad following the defeat by Kilmarnock and a last-gasp draw at home to Hamilton. Garry Kenneth and Michael Kovacevic came into the back four, with Darren Dods dropping out of the squad, and Danny Swanson replaced Conway in midfield. The United boss was delighted with the win, especially as Kovacevic and Kenneth both stopped Andy Dorman with last-ditch sliding tackles. Levein said: "We took one point from our last two games. I felt at Killie we weren't great and last week we weren't 100 per cent, although it was a very difficult match. And also I had a suspicion that Craig Dargo and Dennis Wyness would play. I felt we needed a little more pace in the team. So Garry Kenneth and Michael Kovacevic came in and in the first half I was grateful Michael was there, because he is exceptionally quick and saved us from probably St Mirren going one up. It was a great tackle. We have been too open in recent matches away from home and suffered for it and it was good to get back to being solid."

St Mirren were left to rue missed chances as Stephen McGinn hit the bar from 12 yards, while Dennis Wyness and Billy Mehmet badly missed clear-cut opportunities. Wyness has not scored for more than a year but manager Gus MacPherson vowed to stick by his strikers. He said: "We can't turn around and say we'll find a better quality striker in January that's not wanted, is better than the proven goalscorers that we've got in SPL football. We've just got to try to keep creating the chances and hopefully the strikers will take them."

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