Dundee United secured only their 2nd away victory of the season, after beating St Mirren 2-0 during the last ever match between the two sides at Love Street.
After Hearts beat Rangers 2-1 in the earlier kick-off, Dundee United knew they needed to win to keep the pressure on the Tynecastle club in the chase for 3rd place.
Even with Dundee United`s impressive run of form in recent weeks, it wasn`t as easy a victory as the score line suggests, as St Mirren blew several great chances to take at least a point from the game.
Although, it was Jon Daly that was the difference between the 2 sides on the day, as he tormented the home defence and brought several impressive saved out of goalkeeper Mark Howard.
In the first half, a cross from the left bounced up teasingly infront of Daly at the backpost, but his half volley was blasted straight at the keeper.
The opening goal came in the 37th minute, when Daly and Willo Flood played a 1-2 move on the edge of the penalty box, after gathering the ball from a deflected Danny Swanson shot.
Flood headed the ball down to Daly, who controlled and played it back to Flood before dashing into the penalty box, where he connected with the resultant cross to powerfully head the ball into the back of the net.
Saints should have equalised early in the 2nd period, after Craig Dargo`s square ball across the front of United`s goal, was turned over the cross bar by Derek Wyness from 8-yards, with the goal gapping.
Saints continued to push forward and the match was on a knife edge, when the home side claimed a penalty after Jim Hamilton claimed he`d been assaulted by Zaluska inside the area, after the striker had left a foot in when challenging for the ball against the United goalie.
Just as it seemed like referee Callum Murray was going to award a penalty to Saint Mirren and a red card to the United keeper, he suddenly booked Hamilton for diving, a decision that was proved correct after TV coverage showed there had been no contact.
Only Howard prevented United scoring a 2nd midway through the 2nd half, after saving low to his right from a long-range Jon Daly effort, but Saints then hit the crossbar when Stephen McGinn accepted a headed pass at the edge of the 6-yard box.
Then, in the closing stages of the game, United sealed all 3 points after Jack Ross brought down Craig Conway inside the area.
on Daly was determined to improving his goalscoring record this season and grabbed the ball, before placing it into the right-hand corner of the net from the resultant spot-kick.
It was Daly`s 4th league goal in 9 matches so far this season, his 7th in all competitions after scoring a hat-trick against Cowdenbeath in the League Cup in August.
It`s good to see the Irish striker finally starting to get on the goal sheet more regularly and even without his 2 goals, he deserves to be named Dundee United`s man-of-the-match for his efforts through the 90minutes.
Final score:
St Mirren 0-2 Dundee United
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