HARRY Lewis responded well to letting in six goals for the first time in his professional career on Saturday by producing important saves against Dunfermline, keeping a clean sheet and ensuring that Dundee United earned a draw and a point.

Can the Tannadice club, though, now show a similar positive reaction to the poor run of form which has seen them fall eight points behind St. Mirren in the Ladbrokes Premiership table this month?

It is still only January and there is a lot of football to be played – 15 games in the case of Csaba Laszlo’s team – before the side which lifts the second tier trophy and secures the automatic play-off place is decided.

United have a game in hand against Queen of the South away as well as a home match against the league leaders to play. Win both of those and they could be back in the mix. But none of those supporters who watched them toil to a point at the weekend will hold out much hope of them going up as champions.

Lewis, the on-loan Southampton keeper, denied Declan McManus twice with excellent blocks in the second half to keep United level. The second of those, from a header directed at goal from a few yards out late on, wasn’t one he could reasonably be expected to make. The visitors were lucky.

The 20-year-old was in far better spirits afterwards than he had been seven days earlier following the 6-1 mauling by a Falkirk side sitting in second bottom spot in the Championship away from home. He admitted it had been a difficult week.

“You do go away and look yourself in the mirror,” he said. “You think: ‘What could I have done differently?’ There was a lot of that going on. We tried to put it right and while there is room for improvement we were solid at the back.

“That was the first time I had let in six. I got a lot of messages after the game, but I like to deal with things myself. Probably wrongly I try to deal with it all myself. My mum texted and told me to keep my chin up. But, you don’t want to hear that after the game. You just want to be on your own and get over it.

“I have gone over it a million times in my head and on video. I’ve spoken to the goalkeeping coaches here and the goalkeeping coach at Southampton. I had a long chat with him. I have gone over it a fair bit and think I have closure now.

“Last week was obviously a low point. But I’m the type of person who doesn’t like to concede any goal. I think there is always something you can do differently to stop a goal and that is what we spoke about on the phone.

“It was good to get back on the pitch and get a game under my belt. I have made a couple of saves and kept a clean sheet which is good for the team. That is a platform we can build on heading into next Saturday’s game.”

But Lewis acknowledged that United must perform far better if they are to reignite their title challenge and catch St. Mirren who have now not lost in seven games.

“It was certainly an improvement and was better than last week, but it still wasn’t the result we wanted,” he said. “We knew it was a big game and we have kept a clean sheet which I am happy with. But we need to start picking up wins and stringing a good run together.

“It is not good to see them getting a few more points on us. We are still not panicking yet. We know the task in hand. It is time to cut out the complacency and get back to being the Dundee United we know we can be.”

Nat Wedderburn, the Dunfermline midfielder, was one of just a handful of outfield players to receive pass marks for his display in what was a poor game. He is, however, confident the East End Park club, despite being 15 points adrift, can challenge for the title not just one of the three play-off spots.

“The play-offs are the minimum we are aiming for,” he said. “We have St Mirren in a couple of weeks and if we can get a win there you never know what might happen. We will keep going, there are a lot of games still to play.

“We have a lot of quality in the team. I know it is difficult in this league, but if we can get five or six wins on the bounce we surely won’t be far off.”