Dundee United Manager Jim Goodwin spoke to the broadcast media to preview our William Hill Premiership clash with Heart of Midlothian on Matchday 32.

The Gaffer discussed team news, grinding out victories at the business end of the season, meeting pre-season targets and the raucous Gorgie atmosphere expected to greet his charges in the capital!

ON HIS GENERAL THOUGHTS HEADING INTO TOMORROW’S MATCH

We're going into the game in good spirits after a great result up in Dingwall last weekend and we want to try and build on that now.

Defensively we were solid, we had a really good shape about the team and got back to the basics in terms of the defensive side of things so we're going to need more of the same against a good Hearts team at Tynecastle - hopefully with a similar outcome. 

ON TEAM NEWS

It's that time of the season where, and I'm pretty sure most managers out there are in a similar situation to ourselves, there are lots of players carrying little knocks and niggles so we've got a decision or two to make on certain individuals after the exploits of last weekend.

We'll give those players every chance right up until Sunday morning before we decide on what the starting XI looks like. 

ON THE RACE FOR THE TOP SIX REACHING IT’S CONCLUSION

We've put ourselves in a great position and we've not been out of the top six all season which is credit to the group, having just been recently promoted - it's a great points return from the team.

We're going to Tynecastle in a positive frame of mind, we know how difficult the game is going to be and Hearts have got some really good quality players throughout the team. But, there hasn't been a great deal between the two teams in the last couple of fixtures.

We shaded the first meeting at Tynecastle and they shaded the one at Tannadice most recently so judging on that, Sunday's game is going to be a very tight one between two good teams.

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF NARROW VICTORIES AT THIS STAGE OF THE SEASON

That result on Saturday was a huge one, given the circumstances and the poor run of form that we were on going into the game.

Coming off the back of a really poor defeat against Dundee, having conceded as many goals as we did, it was great to have a couple of weeks to prepare for Ross County and we were able to iron out some of those issues that we felt we had. The clean sheet speaks volumes - our defensive record right from the early part of the season has been very good and that's what's put us in this position.

Sunday is going to be similar against a really good attacking team with some very good quality players in the forward area. The concentration level and our organisation is going to be called into question again on Sunday and, as I keep saying every week, we back ourselves to score. 

Fingers crossed we can carry on that good form defensively into a really difficult fixture on Sunday.

ON HEARTS’ PREDICTED SET-UP

There are lots of different systems and formations in this league and I think that's what makes it so exciting, but it also makes it extremely difficult as a manager because every team have got their own way of playing - no two games are ever the same.

Neil Critchley has done a terrific job since he came to the club. The points return that he's had since coming in, I think puts him third or fourth in the league table so they've had a strong season. They had a bit of a slow start but they've managed to galvanise themselves and put themselves in that top six position at the moment which I'm pretty sure is what the supporters would have been looking for as a bare minimum at the start of the season. 

The system is a different one, they want to dominate that midfield area. It causes us to ask questions of ourselves in terms of how we stop them when they have possession but at the same time we've got to exploit the areas that we feel we can take advantage of.

Tynecastle is probably one of the best away days in the league - everybody would tell you that in terms of how compact the stadium is. The atmosphere tends to be good and we're hoping for a repeat performance of the one we had early on in the season there. 

ON ROSS DOCHERTY’S INFLUENCE WHEN AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION

I had a good conversation with Ross at the beginning of the week just explaining how important the next eight weeks are going to be for him - his lack of availability since coming to the club has been a major disappointment for him and us.

For me as a manager, not being able to select him as often as I would have liked is frustrating but you can see the influence he has on the team when he plays - he was outstanding in Dingwall. 

He's still not fully fit in terms of where we would like him to be but that's due to the fact that he's had several different injuries throughout the season. He looks as if he's stronger now physically - he's getting through training, fewer aches and pains.

Ross is a real leader. That's why I made him captain when I brought him to the club and I think he's got a big seven games coming up. When Ross is fit and available he certainly makes us a better team. 

ON THE IMPACT OF HEARTS’ TOP SIX ASPIRATIONS AFFECTING THE MATCH

It's fair to say that it's more of a must-win fixture for Hearts than it is for ourselves, but with that said we're not going there with a negative mindset of trying not to lose the game. We want to go there and try to win the game.

There’s pressure on Hearts and they have to, I suppose, be a bit more open and expansive than we have to be and if we can exploit those areas on the counter-attack then that's something that we'll look to try and do. 

ON WHETHER TYNECASTLE IS AN INTIMIDATING VENUE FOR AWAY TEAMS

I don't think intimidation is the right word but it can be a hostile venue in terms of the atmosphere that the supporters generate, they always turn out in good numbers. It is one of the better away days in the calendar, there's no doubt about that.

They have a fantastic modern stadium, the development that they've done at Tynecastle has really improved the place and it makes for a really good game of football, but I would like to think that my players won't be overawed by it.

They've proven already during the early part of the season that they enjoyed going there and as a professional player you want to play in the big stadiums and showcase your talents in front of a big crowd. My boys will be excited for it. 

ON MEETING PRE-SEASON TARGETS SO FAR

As I've said in months gone by, on average over the last ten seasons, 43 points has tended to be enough to get you into that top six. We believed it was going to be a little bit more this year given how competitive and how strong the league was and we set ourselves a target of 45.

We wanted to try and average 15 points every 11 games, and we believed that if we got to 45 points it would be enough to achieve top six. We've got two games to go, and we can actually exceed that points target if things go according to plan which would be fantastic - it would put us in a really strong position into the post-split fixtures. 

There's still a lot to be played for, and we just need to take care of our own business and make sure that we get the job done on our terms.

ON SUMMER RECRUITMENT PLANS

Similar to all the clubs out there, recruitment is not something that you just think about window-to-window, it's constant. We've been looking at the summer window pretty much from January and that's something that we have to do to make sure that we're ahead of the game.

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