United will 'keep fighting' for top-six - Goodwin

Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin says he expects a "physical" enounter against St Mirren and his team will "keep fighting" for a top-six spot.

Saturday's defeat by Motherwell coupled with Falkirk's convincing win over Kilmarnock left United 12 points off sixth spot with 15 points left to play for.

The first of those is St Mirren at Tannadice as Goodwin aims to register a first win in four Premiership matches and turn their form around before Friday's Scottish Cup quarter-final against Falkirk.

"If there's one thing that I can never point the finger at this group of players for, it's a lack of effort, commitment or professionalism," he said.

"We know we haven't got enough points on the board at this stage of the season.

"We also know that we've made mistakes at times in certain games that have been really costly and I include myself in that as well - it's not always just about the players.

"We're very much a collective here and we win and lose together. But obviously we find ourselves in a position at the table that we're not overly satisfied with.

"We're not stupid enough to think that it's going to be easy or straightforward and Falkirk only need to pick up another win out of the next four games and they've secured it [top six]. But while it's mathematically still possible, we'll keep fighting."

Goodwin added he is confident his chosen team will match St Mirren "in terms of the physical aspect".

"It's a completely different style of play to what we faced on Saturday against Motherwell - it'll be a lot more direct, and we'll have to defend the box well," the United boss added.

"We're going to have to stand up and be counted in those situations but at the same time, we've caused St Mirren a few problems going the other way this season and we've got to try and do that again."