Paterson: United will stay up

Motherwell wide-man Jim Paterson helped plunge former side Dundee United back into the relegation zone then backed the Taysiders to beat the drop.

The Steelmen capitalised on some sloppy defending by the visitors at Fir Park to rack up a 2-0 win courtesy of goals from David Partridge and Scott McDonald to leave United joint bottom of the Bank of Scotland Premier League with Livingston.

But Paterson insists the Tannadice side are too good to go down.

He said: “I watched United against Aberdeen in the cup last week and I thought they were brilliant.

“I was surprised when Aberdeen beat them in the league in midweek but really, I can’t see them being relegated, they have got too much quality.

“I’ve been there myself and when you’re down there sometimes nothing goes for you.

“They had a couple of half chances and you would expect Barry Robson to burst the net with his but he dragged it wide.

“Things like that don’t go for you when you’re down there but I’m sure they’ll turn it around.

“It wasn’t the best of games but it was important that we got a win. If you score the first goal it’s a platform to build on and the team that gets the first goal in the SPL usually goes on to win the game.

“But it was good to get the second goal so early in the second half and it allowed us to relax a bit.”

Terry Butcher’s men take on Livingston next week in their last SPL match before their CIS Insurance Cup final against Rangers but Paterson insists the Fir Park men will not have an eye on Hampden.

He said: “Things are going well and there is a buzz about the place because we’re in the cup final.

"The boys are playing with confidence and we’re going from strength to strength.

“There’s cup final places up for grabs against Livingston but we’ll go into the match the way we did against Dundee United.

“It’s the league, a different competition and we’ll worry about the cup game later.

“And we won‘t be thinking about getting injured. If you play like that then that’s when you run the risk of getting an injury so we’ll go out and treat it like any other game.”

Motherwell manager Terry Butcher insists he is only focusing on his side’s upcoming game against Livingston.

He said: “Three points are vital to us to maintain what we’re doing and Livingston have got the bit between their teeth at the moment.

“It will be a different Livingston side to the ones we’ve faced this season so we’ll be putting out our strongest team.”

Dundee United boss Ian McCall mourned another hapless display but insists his side will get it right and avoid relegation.

He said: “You can’t miss chances and defend like we did and expect to win games. But I am still confident we can do it.”