Dundee United Manager Jim Goodwin spoke to the broadcast media to preview our William Hill Premiership clash with Hibernian on Matchday 18.

The Gaffer reflected on Wednesday night’s terrific triumph over the Champions before expressing his desire to put a winning run remeniscent of last season’s festive trio together in the forthcoming days and weeks.

Watch the full press conference below!

ON A WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY AT TANNADICE

The most important thing on Wednesday was for us to try and win the game and get all three points. The performance wasn't the be all and end all, but we actually managed to not only get the result but show a really good side to ourselves in the second half. I thought we thoroughly deserved it. 

When you look at the stats, I know Celtic had some big chances in the opening 45 minutes but they didn’t capitalise on those. We had more shots on target than Celtic, and I can't remember managing a team that has done that, we had more touches in their penalty area than they've had in ours, and Kasper Schmeichel has had to make more saves than Dave Richards. 

That tells you that we deserved to be the winners on the night. We have to take the confidence from that.

ON MOMENTUM AND CONFIDENCE BUILDING

We've played well in the last couple of games against two top teams in Motherwell and Celtic who are above us in the league table at the moment. We've performed really well and we've got to do that again tomorrow against Hibs. 

In the last five fixtures, if you take the St Mirren game out of it which, admittedly, was a poor performance, the other four against Kilmarnock, Rangers, Motherwell and Celtic - the team have been performing okay. 

We’ve just not being able to get the all-important wins that we need. Draws had been an issue prior to Wednesday. I think we've had seven in the league up until now. Thankfully on Wednesday, we managed to find a way to get over the line.

It's a busy schedule and there are big demands put on individuals but we have to take confidence from Wednesday night and make sure that we build on that.

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FESTIVE FIXTURES

I always think when you get through the Christmas period and into the middle of January, the league tends to settle down a little bit and you get a fairer understanding of potentially where teams are going to end up prior to the split. 

It's an opportunity to get good points on the board over this busy festive schedule and that's what everybody out there is planning to do. 

ON OUR MATCHDAY 18 OPPONENTS

Tomorrow is a difficult fixture against a very good Hibs team. Granted, they've lost three of the last four games coming into tomorrow but it’s a team filled with real quality, particularly in the forward areas. 

They've got players there that can hurt you, but we believe that we have got players at the top end of the pitch that can cause any team in the league problems.

There's a really good positive atmosphere about the place. I was really pleased for the players and the staff along with the supporters that we were able to get that win and that breeds confidence - we're looking forward to tomorrow. 

ON THE IMPACT OF THE TANGERINE ARMY

They did make a huge difference and you heard that in some of the interviews from the players after the game as well, speaking about the supporters and about the difference that they can make on the game in terms of driving the team on.

The reaction that the supporters saw in the players in the second half gave them a real boost and then when you're going through those difficult moments in the last five or ten minutes trying to get over the line, the supporters certainly played their part there as well. The fans have been brilliant.

We've had a frustrating period where we've not won enough games over the last couple of months but you're always going to get those challenges in sport. It's in those moments where we all need to really come together and in doing that, I think that's where we get the best out of ourselves - the supporters play a significant role in that.

We were delighted for them to be able to beat a team of Celtic’s quality, it was a great lift for them.

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