Dundee United midfielder Ilmari Niskanen praised Tannadice boss Jim Goodwin after his side's 2-1 victory away to Motherwell, calling him "brilliant".

The 25-year-old netted the equaliser as the visitors came from behind in Lanarkshire to move off the bottom of the table.

Niskanen, who has had limited game this season, feels things are starting to click for the club at the right time.

"It’s a brilliant feeling to be off the bottom of the table," he said. "The effort the boys put in here and last week (against Hibernian) was absolutely spot on but we just have to keep on going, one game at a time.

"The feeling now is absolutely brilliant, especially coming from a goal behind.

"At half-time there was no lack of belief. Everyone believed in our game and even though we conceded in the first half, I think we played alright.

"The second half, we improved quite a lot and got two goals and then defended really well in the end."

In-form Kevin van Veen gave the hosts the lead in the first half before Niskanen provided the equaliser and then with 20 minutes to go, Steelmen goalkeeper Liam Kelly brought down Steven Fletcher in the box.

Midfielder Jamie McGarth dispatched the spot-kick calmly to give Goodwin's team the three vital points.

And the 25-year-old has nothing but good things to say about the Irishman.

READ MORE: Penalty leaves Motherwell's Kettlewell 'baffled' in Dundee United loss

He continued: "The gaffer is absolutely brilliant. He’s really brought a lot into this team, a lot of belief. 

"The training so far has been really good and the attitude and work ethic inside the team is brilliant.

"We have to keep all this going now. Hopefully this can be a run for me in the team now. I want to be part of it.

"But personally I knew I had to improve. I got the goal but otherwise it wasn’t my best game.

"I will keep on working hard every single day and hopefully be better next weekend against Livingston.

"I could feel my confidence going higher. I know I had great chances in previous games so I wanted to help the team.

"I wouldn’t say my confidence was low but it has definitely lifted to another level."

The strike was Niskanen's first of the season and he is keen to increase his goalscoring threat going forward.

After being in and out of the team this season, the midfielder has featured in four of the last five games for United.

In total, he has featured 19 times during the 2022-23 campaign with this current run providing his most consistent run in the team.

And the midfielder hopes to keep seizing the opportunities in front of him.

"It has been difficult for me from time to time. I absolutely love scoring goals, everyone does.

"It felt quite good for me, I can’t lie, to get such an important goal for the club. 

"It’s been quite a while since my last goal. It felt absolutely brilliant but the most important thing that, as a team, we built on that to get the three points.

"I was delighted to play my part in that. It was a brilliant feeling when that ball hit the net.

"To score right in front of the fans and celebrate with them was brilliant, the away support was absolutely spot-on, so many there.

"The support throughout the game even when we were behind was so important for us.”

The victory marked the first time United have won two games in a row since January 2 and also helped them move into 10th place after Ross County lost to Aberdeen and Celtic defeated Kilmarnock.

And Niskanen hopes the momentum will continue to swing in the Tannadice side's favour.

"It could come down to the team with momentum, I don’t know, nothing is settled yet.

"There are six games to go, we have to keep on going and concentrating on everything.

"We’ve been training hard, we need to continue doing that and improve from this game as well because it wasn’t the perfect game.

"I know that we definitely can still improve but this victory was a really big three points, of course."