Source: Team_Talk
Houston: Future's bright, future's orange
Peter Houston says Dundee United have already achieved a points target - but says they could be toasting something more tangible by the summer.[LNB] The Tannadice boss saw his third-placed side extend their lead over nearest rivals Hibernian to eight points with a late 1-0 success at St Johnstone on Easter Monday.[LNB]Jon Daly's 83rd-minute header won the Tayside derby at McDiarmid Park after Slovak goalkeeper Dusan Pernis saved Liam Craig's poor penalty 13 minutes earlier.[LNB]United are now only five points behind second-placed Celtic and have an Active Nation Scottish Cup semi-final against First Division Raith Rovers to look forward to on Sunday at Hampden.[LNB]Houston is refusing to get carried away, but admits surpassing last season's points total of 53 in the Scottish Premier League is already an achievement for this campaign.[LNB]He said: "We take one game at a time and we'll continue to do that. We can't look too far ahead.[LNB]"We are not that good that we can look at the next three or four games and think we're going to take 'x' amount of points.[LNB]"I'm not really bothered about the Old Firm, I'm more concerned about United. I said when I took over, even under Craig Levein at the beginning of the season, we want to achieve more points than we did last year.[LNB]"We are sitting on 58 points, that's five points more already with still six league games to go.[LNB]"We are getting better, we have a good squad of players."[LNB]United are unbeaten in eight matches and look odds-on for the Europa League next season.[LNB]Houston believes their defensive strength is coming to the fore at a critical time.[LNB]He added: "St Johnstone had a spell of four or five corners in the first half and we headed every one clear.[LNB]"Recently, we lost four goals at Kilmarnock when we lost every header. We have learned and picked up from that."[LNB]The home side were unlucky losers as they remained three points behind Hearts in the race for the top six.[LNB]The Tynecastle team can now secure a spot in the top half by earning a point against Kilmarnock on Saturday, with Saints travelling to Aberdeen 24 hours later.[LNB]Perth boss Derek McInnes has seen his side surpass expectations to mount a top-six bid on their return to the SPL and feels his team can be proud whatever happens.[LNB]He said: "We are not far away from United. Their squad is the accumulation of three or four years' work.[LNB]"They just keep doing the right things, keep the ball going forward, do the ugly side of the game well and know that they can affect it with a bit of quality.[LNB]"That's the game in the Premier League, we are not far away from it. We should be pleased with our efforts this season but we want to finish strongly."
