Jim Goodwin says in-form Dundee Utd will not underestimate ‘hurting’ Rangers

Dundee United boss Jim Goodwin will not underestimate “hurting” Rangers going into their Tannadice clash on Sunday.

The newly-promoted Taysiders are unbeaten in their last eight games in all competitions and sit third in the William Hill Premiership after four fixtures.

In-form United are one point ahead of Philippe Clement’s Rangers, who are licking their wounds after a comprehensive 3-0 defeat by Old Firm rivals Celtic before the international break which left them languishing five points behind the champions, having been knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers earlier in the season.

However, Goodwin said: “You only need to look to the fixture prior to Celtic where they put six past Ross County.

“So I don’t think Rangers have been playing terribly. I watched the Celtic versus Rangers game and Rangers started really positively and on the front foot.

“And had they got that early goal when they were on top in the opening 10 minutes, then maybe things could have been different.

“So we’re not underestimating them. The break maybe came at a good time for Philippe Clement to spend some more time with his players and getting his message across.

“We know the quality that Rangers have got.

“Obviously, they’ll be still hurting after their recent defeat to Celtic and no doubt Philippe Clement will be looking for a reaction from his players

“But we tend not to focus too much on the opposition. We respect everybody we play. We do similar analysis meetings, I would imagine, to what every opposition out there does.

“But we try and focus on what our strengths and weaknesses are at the moment, and try and just continue to improve week to week.

“Sunday is going to be another tough game. But there are no easy games in this league.

“There is a really good feeling within the group, and I think within the supporters as well.”

United started their season with a 2-0 defeat at Falkirk in the League Cup but since then have picked up six wins and two draws, with their last three matches resulting in three victories and three clean sheets.

Goodwin added: “That feel-good factor has been there right from the off and we’re on an extremely good run.

“At the beginning of the season we spoke about being a difficult opposition to play against.

“No team should out-run us, no team should out-fight us. Discipline and organisation against the better teams is always going to be important, but we feel we carry a threat ourselves.

“We’ve got some match-winners within the group and that’s been proven up to now.

“We just have to make sure that we show those same qualities against Rangers on Sunday.”