It happened again at Inverness on Saturday when Lee Miller’s early penalty was cancelled out by a Ross Tokely strike. Although he was not happy with the defending of that 20th-minute goal, the manager believed there was still plenty of time and opportunity for his attack to win the game.

“When you are losing leads, people will look at the defending, but I honestly believe part of the problem is that we are not scoring enough goals,” said Gordon.

“We have not quite reached 20 in the league and when you look at the number of attack-minded players we are putting out on the park we really should be scoring more. In the second half on Saturday, we certainly had the chances to get goals and it was the same the previous week against Motherwell.

“It’s not about making excuses for the defenders, but if we were taking more chances, we would make their job a good bit easier.”

On the subject of his back line, Gordon took time to praise the way in which David McCracken, who was captain against ICT, has reacted to being left out of the side earlier in the campaign.

“Back in August, after we beat Motherwell, I left him out because I was not happy with his defending and I told him so. When he got back in the team, I told him he had to make the most of his chance and, to be fair to him, he has done that.

“I thought he played very well on Saturday and his performances since he came back have been very consistent. That’s the level I expect of him and it is up to him to maintain that form.”

Out-of-favour club captain Derek McInnes was linked with former club Morton over the weekend, but today Gordon insisted he has heard nothing from Cappielow boss, ex-United stalwart Jim McInally.

Even so, McInnes has become almost a permanent sub and it seems certain the Tangerines would be willing to release him if a club came in for him in January.

United chairman Eddie Thompson, meanwhile, has passed on his thanks to the small band of fans who braved difficult travel conditions to be at Caledonian Stadium on Saturday.

Rain and sleet made for a dangerous journey for those who headed up the A9 by bus and car, while rail travellers faced extensive delays following an early morning derailment just south of the highland capital.

Even so, around 150 or so fans were in the stadium and backed the team throughout.

“The size of the crowd was a big attraction in coming here and it is encouraging to see the fans continue to turn up in good numbers,” he said. “I have to say as well that in the main they stuck behind the team on Saturday and gave good support. When you consider some of the results there have been lately, that is appreciated.”

And, while it was by no means a classic performance, Alan was happy to see his men finish on top. “We got three points and right now that is what matters most because we needed a win. I was also happy with a clean sheet and I thought that, apart from a nervy last 10 minutes, we looked a lot more solid in the defensive area. That should give us confidence and it is something we can build on in the next few weeks.”

Kelvin Jack and Stephen McNally missed training today due to nursing knocks.

Derek Soutar had his knee operation on Saturday and the news of that was good. “The surgeon was buoyant about it. He has tidied up Soapy’s knee and,if everything goes well, he thinks we might have him back in training in two or three weeks.”

Following his team’s draw at McDiarmid Park, Neil said, “St Johnstone can still mount a challenge.

“St Mirren are fortunate they have had continuity of team selection.

“But it’s not over yet. St Johnstone are the most entertaining team we’ve played.”

Saints hope John Henry will have recovered from injury to take part in tomorrow’s home reserve match against East Fife.

But Kieran McAnespie is struggling to make it due to flu and Stephen Dobbie is still out injured.

Kevin Fotheringham, who made his comeback from a long injury lay-off in the Forfarshire Cup against Arbroath, is likely to get another runout.

Skipper Kevin James was frank and to the point after his side fell further behind in the promotion race, drawing 1-1 with lowly Stranraer.

“Not good enough,” said the big central defender before he revealed that player-boss Owen Coyle has cancelled days off for his players until they get things right on the park.

“We’ve got to get back to basics and we’ve got to work hard on the training ground,” said Kevin just minutes after the whistle had blown on another disappointing 90 minutes for Saints.

“We had a few chances to win and, if we are to have any aspirations of going into the Premierleague, they must go in.

“The buck stops at the players and we have to earn our luck.

“We’ve got to start working harder and believing in ourselves. I can understand the fans frustration, but I’d ask them to stick by us.”

Saints had 10 efforts on goal before David Hamilton gave Stranraer a half-time lead with their first effort on the home goal.

And it took the hosts until the 83rd minute to level through Paul Sheerin. Thereafter, they bombarded the visiting goal with extra vigour, but the Stair Park team repelled everything Saints could throw at them.