However, while pleased with the display, Craig wasn’t allowing it to mask the fact he still believes his men are below where they should be at present.

He said, “I was pleased with the way we played, but, obviously, more pleased with the three points.

“We got a result at Aberdeen the previous week, but the performance was a bit scrappy and, although we were better on Saturday, there is definitely still more to come from us.

“There are still new players in the team who are fitting in and have to find their feet. We’ve not managed to get the best out of everybody yet, so we’re not getting carried away or going to go overboard about the win.

“What I was delighted about was winning in front of our own fans. We owe them more than one for the way they’ve stuck with the team when we weren’t getting results earlier in the season.”

Meanwhile, United will attempt to make it four wins on the bounce when they welcome Inverness Caley to Tannadice at the weekend.

And Craig is anticipating nothing more than an extremely hard 90 minutes. “It’ll be a very hard game against Caley. On Saturday, they had a fantastic result against Kilmarnock, who had been flying high, and it just goes to show you can’t take anything for granted in this league.”

United’s Warren Feeney is in the Northern Ireland squad for World Cup games versus Slovenia on October 11 and San Marino on October 15 (See Page 27).

That’s bad news for the gaffer, who is already working with a restricted squad due to injuries.

On Saturday, Gary McKenzie, Eric Paton and Colin McMenamin were all injured, while Paul McHale was ruled out 24 hours earlier after tearing a calf muscle and Darren Williams was also sidelined with a calf problem.

McKenzie has a broken toe and will be out for four-six weeks, Paton has popped a shoulder and will see a specialist tomorrow along with McMenamin, who has injured a knee.

When you add Colin Cameron, Darren Young and Jim Lauchlan to that list of absentees, the manager only has a dozen first-team players at his disposal.

However, Alex was refusing to dwell on the problems he’s facing.

He said, “There’s no point in harping on about the situation — it is what it is and we have to get on with it.

“The players we have available simply have to get their sleeves rolled up and try to get a win at Partick this week.

“I thought we were relatively comfortable in the first half against St Johnstone, but then the boy has scored a wonder goal and it was poor defending for the second.”

Meanwhile, John Bennett continues to be linked with an investment in the club. Speculation is likely to intensify later this week when the former Dundee United director returns from holiday.

Steven Anderson has an ankle injury, but Saints are hopeful he’ll be fit by the time Airdrie United visit on Saturday. The same applies to Kevin Rutkiewicz who hurt an ankle against Dundee.