THE break has come at a good time on and off the park for Dundee United. Now a fresh start is looming large at Tannadice.
The coming days will determine if it is Liam Fox that leads the club into a new era and a hat-trick of Premiership fixtures at home to St Johnstone, Aberdeen and Hibernian that could be the platform for the campaign.
Fox has stated his case to be named as the permanent successor to Jack Ross. Time will tell if the 2-1 loss to Rangers on Saturday is the last game of tenure or the final fixture of his audition.
A second half effort from Liam Smith had Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side worried but it wasn't a moment that the visitors could build on in terms of the 90 minutes. In the bigger picture, it could be one to kick-on from, however.
If Fox is the man tasked with the role, he will hope to pick up where he left off as United attempt to move forward after a faltering start to the season.
"It was a pretty seamless transition because we worked with him throughout the last 18 months," Smith said. "He had an influence on training when Tam Courts was the manager.
"It wasn’t anything particularly new. He has just put small changes in so that it is his stamp as manager, what he wants from us. The boys have bought into it and it’s worked so far. Credit to him for that.
"The boys all like and respect him as a coach and now he is in the manager’s seat. The club will have a decision to make going forward, whatever that is.
"But certainly, I don’t think he has done himself any harm over the last past few weeks.
"You can only build when there is consistency. Once we know who the main voice is going to be, whether it be Foxy or someone else, you can then almost start afresh and kick on. So whenever that decision is made, we will take it and give 100 percent for whoever it is.
"We have put in a block in terms of performances over the last few weeks. If we use that, and then start picking up results as well, I think we’ll be fine."
United were left with nothing to show for their efforts at Ibrox but there were enough reasons to be hopeful as an encouraging performance was produced despite falling behind early on in each half.
The 9-0 thumping by Celtic could have been in the back of many minds. But Smith reckons United can now look forward after emerging from another Old Firm clash with a sense of frustration rather than feelings of embarrassment.
Smith said: "I think we had a belief coming into the game that we were going to get space to play. It’s strange how it works.
"You come to the bigger venues and you tend to get more time on the ball. And we’ve got good players who can pass the ball. If we can keep the ball for long enough and get into good positions, we know we can cause problems.
"Our good players played well. Dylan Levitt played well in the middle of the park. And when he’s playing well and spraying the ball about, it gives us a foothold in the game. We pushed on but ultimately didn’t get what we deserved.
"I can only comment on us. It’s hard to compare the [defeat to Celtic and the Rangers game]. They are two top sides.
"We have used the last couple of weeks’ break to start again and build. We did that in the games a couple of weeks ago. We got a decent result at Livi and then drew at Motherwell.
"That was a starting point. I feel like we have upped that level again, but we didn’t take anything. So we need to use that and go into the next game, put in the same performance and ultimately win the game."
