From dead and buried to alive and kicking. This was a must win match in a series of must win matches for Dundee United as the Tannadice men embark on the kind of formidable mountain climbing exercise that would have had Edmund Hillary peering up and saying ‘sod this boys, we’ll just turn back’.

They are still 11 points adrift at the bottom of the Scottish Premiership table but at least they are now making moves away from base camp. A first league win since October – and only a third this campaign – was greatly received and the spectacular fashion of it must have had the local parishioners scratching their heads in disbelief as United romped into a four goal lead by half-time. Kilmarnock, the closest team to United in the league, were pretty dire but take nothing away from the hosts. This was a display full of spirit, fight and a fair bit of flair as they injected their fearsome battle against relegation with morale-boosting vigour.

“It is only one much but we believe,” said Mixu Paatelainen, the Dundee United manager, as he turned his thoughts to key encounters with Partick Thistle, Hamilton and Motherwell in the coming weeks. “Maybe we are daft but we believe we can get out of this. We played with a great intensity and the work rate was unbelievable. We will keep fighting until it is over and we know on our day we can beat them all.”

There has not been much case for the United defence this season. Their shoogly back line has been as brittle as the dead sea scrolls and this was illustrated on just four minutes as Josh Magennis was left in menacing isolation in the box from a Kallum Higginbotham cross only for his sliding poke to fly straight into the grateful clutches of Eiji Kawashima. Had that chance been taken, then who knows how the game would have developed. Instead, it was United who would go on the rampage after neatly engineering a breakthrough in eight minutes. Ryan Dow dinked a pass into Simon Murray and from his considered lay off Blair Spittal lashed a low strike into the bottom corner.

It was eventful stuff but the early momentum was halted with a lengthy delay when Coll Donaldson was carried off with a sore one to his face after an aerial challenge. Kilmarnock’s set up was also disrupted as their captain, Steven Smith, hirpled off. When play resumed, the lively, industrious Murray continued to cause mischief. The flame-haired forward thought he had doubled United’s lead on 14 minutes but his over zealous dunt on Conrad Balatoni as he won possession in the box led to the referee disallowing his effort. Not to worry. The second would eventually arrive just after the half hour as United finally profited from a haul of seven corners. Spittal whipped one in to the near post and Gunning’s glancing header flew in. Spittal’s endeavours on the right were causing considerable anguish for the flustered Kilmarnock defenders and when he flung a cross-cum-shot in on 38 minutes, everybody left it and the ball bounced into the net. The visitors were in a complete fankle and when another Spittal cross was not properly cleared, the lurking John Rankin pounced to thrash a volley past Jamie McDonald from six yards.

This four-goal blitz was always going to take some topping in the second half but Sean Dillion put the icing on the cake with a surging run that involved a one-two and a ricochet before he prodded the ball in with his toe. A late Magennis header provided a tiny crumb of consolation for Kilmarnock but it had been a thoroughly desperate day. “We were second best all over the pitch and in a game of this magnitude, that was hugely disappointing,” lamented Gary Locke, the Kilmarnock manager.

The relegation tale may have a few more twists yet.

Scorers

Dundee United: Spittal 8, 38, Gunning 32, Rankin 43, Dillon 78

Kilmarnock: Magennis 82