Dundee United can go fourth in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday but Micky Mellon mainly views their trip to Hamilton as another chance to gain the consistency he is striving to instil in the team.

United bounced back from three consecutive defeats – including 4-0 losses against Kilmarnock and Rangers – to beat St Mirren and move into the top six last weekend.

With none of the teams above them playing until Sunday, United can move up another two places but Mellon is more concerned with his long-term goals than the immediate gratification of the league table.

The United boss said: “It’s just about continually improving this group to a level that our consistency gives us a chance of performing and winning games every week. That’s what we are trying to work towards.

“We really are so new to this level. The football cub isn’t, but the team that are here are.

“So we just work hard and give ourselves the best chance of possible of trying to get results.

“If we come out the game at the end and look in a healthy position, then great.

“But we will be back in next week and I will be pushing and prodding them again and trying to find that level of consistency of performance that gets Dundee United to where I want us to get to, representing this fantastic club really, really well, but doing it all the time in every game we playing in, because that’s what a club this size needs to be and deserves to be.”

United’s defeat against Kilmarnock came on an artificial surface similar to the pitch they will encounter at the Foys Stadium in Lanarkshire.

Mellon said: “We look forward to the challenge of going down there, we really do.

“We don’t look at it and say it’s a different surface to what we are used to. Let’s go and attack it and see how good we can be and if we can bring back a valued three points.”