Dundee United increasingly comfortable against 'big boys', says Sam Dalby

Sam Dalby insists Dundee United will continue to make life uncomfortable for the top teams after falling short against Rangers in Sunday’s defeat at Tannadice.

The 25-year-old striker, on loan from Wrexham, headed against a post before he scored the opening goal for the Taysiders to make it 11 goals for the season, making him the William Hill Premiership’s top scorer.

Jim Goodwin’s side had several other chances and near misses throughout but the Light Blues levelled before the break and went on to win 3-1, stretching their lead over the Terrors to 13 points.

United drew 1-1 with Rangers at Ibrox in November and held league leaders Celtic to a goalless draw 0-0 at Tannadice in December on their way to third place in the table, which gives Dalby encouragement.

He said: “Obviously, I hit the post with my header. We were unlucky there.

“I should have really done better with another header. Kai Fotheringham had a header at the back stick, and their keeper did well to save it.

“So we should have probably been up at half-time. Obviously, Rangers are a great team, they’ve got a lot of quality in their team.

“It’s obviously disappointing, but we can definitely take some good stuff away from what we did. We are just getting after teams and making them feel uncomfortable.

“I feel like we did that on Sunday, especially in the first half and in the second half against Celtic the other week.

“So that’s something that we’ve sort of improved on. We are confident of getting a result against all the big boys, and we’ve done that a couple of times this season.

“So we’re confident game by game and trying to get a win every week.”

Wrexham confirmed last week that Dalby would stay at United for the rest of the season and offered him a new contract.

However, the Englishman is focusing only on the Tannadice outfit until the end of the campaign.

He said: “I’ve been really happy here. They’ve welcomed me with open arms, and the staff, the fans, and all the players have been really good to me.

“So I am happy to be here and definitely staying until the end of the season. I’m saying not till the end of the end of the season once the season’s finished.

“We are in a good position in the league, and I just want to focus game by game to help our team stay up the table.”