Forget the City of Discovery, Dundee may just be the City of Recovery. And what a recovery it would be. By all accounts, Captain Scott’s voyage to the Antarctic on that aforementioned vessel was more of an exercise in hassle-free, plain-sailing than the current campaign has been for a beleaguered Dundee United. A defeat to Kilmarnock on Saturday would have plunged them another few fathoms towards relegation and Mixu Paatelainen probably would have had to purchase a bathysphere in the January window to cope with the depths into which they have plumbed. As it turned out, an eye-opening 5-1 victory over their nearest rivals in peril provided a much needed gust of wind in the sails. And if we shoehorn any more ropey maritime references into this piece then we’ll have to pay an annual sub to the Royal Yachting Association.

The Tannadice team remain anchored to the foot of the table – there’s 50 quid to the RYA right away – but what’s an 11 point deficit when you’ve just been galvanised by your first win in the league since October?

The chatter in the tangerine and black corner of Dundee has been all doom and gloom, against a clattering backdrop of metaphorical nails being hammered into coffins, but it seems some clear the air talks have provided, well, a breath of fresh air. They may have even breathed new life into Dundee United’s survival bid which, for so long now, has been looking like something even sturdy bushcraft guru Ray Mears would have shied away from.

“We had a chat about things but you need to do that every now and again and air your opinions,” said Sean Dillon, the Dundee United captain, who jabbed in his side’s fifth goal on Saturday to complete the rousing rout of a pitiful Kilmarnock. “The boys had their say which was good. It’s not easy but everyone got stuff off their chest.

“It wasn’t a union meeting or anything like that. The gaffer and coaching staff deserve a lot of credit as well because they took what everyone said fairly well. It was quite open and the response was good.

“People will have their opinions on how long you leave it before having a meeting like that. Some might say we could have had it two months ago, or six months ago, but it’s done now and we’ve had a chat.

“Sometimes little things just eat away at you but you let them go because you have that belief and you’re convinced things are turning. But you maybe get to a stage where you’re not happy and that’s probably what triggered the feeling for a meeting.

“I’ve always said we can stay up. If someone laughs at me I understand that. And just because we won on Saturday that doesn’t mean we’ll stay up but in my head I believe we’ll do it.”

It was very much a case of United we stand on Saturday as Kilmarnock were swept aside by a determined and decisive performance that featured all the attributes that Paatelainen's men will need to muster from now on in if this great act of escapology is to have a successful conclusion. Blair Spittal, who seemed to be involved in everything and scored twice, was terrific as he led the United assault with a poised, purposeful and productive display.

Josh Macgennis had a fine chance in the first few minutes for Kilmarnock but his close range jab went straight into the hands of the keeper. About 78 minutes later, Macgennis did score but the visitors had already leaked five goals by then. Spittal’s brace, allied to a Gavin Gunning header and John Rankin’s volley, had the home side four goals to the good by half-time.

Kilmarnock were left simply shell shocked. “They built this game up as a cup final and I don’t think we handled the occasion,” admitted Jamie Hammill. “This was a wake up call for us.”

With the home side coasting, there was one moment in the last 20 minutes which perhaps summed up this new found sense of optimism and unity in the ranks. The impressive Simon Murray, sharp, pacy and menacing throughout, chased down what seemed to be a lost cause and eventually won a corner from nothing. His team-mate Rankin trotted over to the flame-haired youngster and gave him a right good hand slap of appreciation. It’s only one win and there’s a mighty job ahead but maybe it’s not a lost cause after all?