Paul Dixon, the Dundee United defender, believes it's time for their followers to undertake something of a reality check in their attempt to save their ailing season.

The Tangerines' trying week became even worse with Saturday's defeat at home to rejuvenated Ross County which left them nine games without a win.

Chairman Stephen Thompson had come under fire from fans' groups in the build-up to this County match after it was revealed that Jackie McNamara, their manager, was entitled to a bonus from the sale of players such as Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven which inevitably caused considerable friction among the Tangerines faithful.

Few teams could do with victory as much as United and, with Wednesday night's derby fixture with city rivals Dundee at Dens Park looming, Dixon is urging followers with the club's best interests at heart to rally in the hope of savouring their first league win since late January.

"I think as a whole club, players, staff, we all need to sit down and have a chat to figure out where we are going wrong," he said. "That's the last nine games without a win. There has been a couple of draws in there but the majority have been defeats.

"So we need to sit down as a team, as a group, as a club and just work out what's going wrong and try to rectify it.

"As a club, including the fans, we need to pull together. Boos and a chorus of laughter is not what we need as players. It doesn't help us.

"We have nine games left to push for a European place. I think as a whole club we need to move on and pull together for the last nine games of the season.

"It is not easy sitting in the morning before training or maybe after at lunch reading in the papers that the fans are battering your chairman. It shouldn't affect us, to be honest as that's boardroom level.

"But boys reading that . . . it's not great to see your fans revolting almost against your chairman. We need our fans to support us and help us through this tough period that we are in.

"Hopefully, they do get behind us. The start we made today, they were up for it and were behind us. Obviously we have lost the game again and we have sent them home unhappy."

United's woes deepened when Raffaele De Vita slotted home a 72nd minute winner for the visitors after Nadir Ciftci's 20th minute penalty had cancelled out Jackson Irvine's 11th minute opener.

These are trying times for McNamara's side who recently lost three times to Celtic in four meetings with the Parkhead club, including last month's League Cup Final at Hampden.

But Dixon, who returned to Tannadice for a second stint back in January following a two-year spell down south with Huddersfield United, is quick to rush to the defence of chairman Thompson.

He said: "At the end of the day, it is Stephen Thompson's football club. He is running it the way he sees fit.

"From my experience of being here, being away looking from the outside in and then coming back again, I personally don't see what he is doing wrong. We have constantly been in the top six, numerous cup finals, semi-finals, quarter-finals.

"I played in Europe twice, qualified for a third time and this season coming back we are still pushing for Europe.

"We were in a cup final and the Scottish Cup quarter-final. Yes, results haven't gone well recently and we are in a sticky patch but we are still fourth in the league and in touching distance of Inverness."

United were bright enough to begin with against rejuvenated County but once Jackson put the visitors in front you could see the fear factor creeping into their play.

County, by comparison, can point to soaring confidence within their ranks with 19 points from a possible 21 in their last seven outings.

An integral figure in their revival since the New Year has been Irvine, their on-loan Celtic midfielder, who inspired them yet again to their latest triumph on the back of a marathon trek to the Far East.

Irvine said: "I was away last week with Australia's Under-23 team. I was in Taiwan and played in two of our three qualifiers.

"I was lucky enough to captain the side against Myanmar in the last game, so we have our eye on qualifying for the next round of the Under-23 Asian championships and that is in Qatar next January.

"The top three or four teams from that go to the Olympics. It's funny because the boys were having at laugh at me actually being able to stand up. I had 35 hours hours of travelling and got back on Thursday at 5pm.

"I need a seat now, but adrenalin got me through I think and it's now about recovery for the next game against St Johnstone on Tuesday."