Ray McKinnon confident Dundee United will get stronger after opening win

Ray McKinnon believes Dundee United will only get stronger after opening their Ladbrokes Championship campaign with a win over promotion rivals Inverness.

Paul McMullen grabbed the only goal as the Tannadice men got their season off to the perfect start in the Highlands.

But McKinnon reckons the 1-0 triumph gave only a partial insight into the strength of his team, which was missing a number of key figures.

The Terrors boss told ArabZone: ''It's good to know we still have people like Scott McDonald to come back into the team.

We had James Keatings come on yesterday but you can see he's still not fully fit and we need to get game time into him.

There's also Patrick Nkoyi to come in, Fraser Fyvie will be a great player for us too and big Mark Durnan and Stewart Murdoch were also out.

So we were missing a few bodies up there but we have good competition for places and that's a pleasing aspect.''

Jack Ross also hopes his St Mirren side are on the right path after claiming an impressive 3-1 victory against title contenders Falkirk.

The Buddies mounted a dramatic fight against relegation last term but concerns were raised recently when they were thumped 5-0 by Partick Thistle in the Betfred Cup.

The Paisley men, however, responded in fine fashion to Nathan Austin's early opener as they overcame the 10-man Bairns with goals from Stelios Demetriou, Cammy Smith and Gavin Reilly.

Ross told stmirren.com: ''I'm really pleased. I said before the match I wanted to keep the momentum from last season going and try to maintain the mood of optimism around the ground.

We've done that in the best possible way.

Nothing has been decided with this result but it starts us off in a positive manner.''

Queen of the South got their season off to an emphatic start as they thumped Brechin 4-1.

Derek Lyle grabbed an opening-day double while John Rankin and Lyndon Dykes also found the net either side of Chris O'Neil's consolation strike.

Livingston and Dunfermline had to settle for a point at the Tony Macaroni Arena after Scott Pittman's first-half opener for the hosts was cancelled out by Kallum Higginbotham's penalty.

Danny Mullen could have won it late on for Livi but saw his own spot-kick saved by Sean Murdoch.

Meanwhile, Morton's attempt to follow up their play-off push from last season got off to a muted start as they were held to a goalless draw away to Dumbarton