Sunday 6 March 2016 11:33, UK
Dundee United midfielder Paul Paton has been named the Scottish Premiership Player of the Month for February.
Paton has recently returned from long-term injury and provided a lift for United in their battle to avoid the drop to the Scottish Championship.
He scored with a spectacular strike against Hearts to secure a late victory on February 20 and then opened the scoring a week later in a 3-0 rout of Ross County at Dingwall.
United remain rooted to the bottom of the Premiership, though, eight points adrift of their closest rivals Kilmarnock having played one game less.
United manager Mixu Paatelainen labelled Paton "an absolute man mountain" and team-mate Billy McKay believes his return can steer the team to safety.
Paton said: "I won one last year but I didn't expect it then and I certainly didn't expect it now. It's always nice but obviously the most important thing is that it was a good month for the club.
"We feel as if we're in good form, Wednesday night [a 1-0 home defeat to Aberdeen] aside. We were playing a top side so we won't get too down about that.
"We've got a lot of big games coming up, we're still positive and confident and we'll take that into our upcoming games."
The 28-year-old also maintains the players remain upbeat and that United have their sights set on survival.
"Confidence has always been high. Ever since the new management team came in they've been great and they have kept confidence high," Paton said.
"Obviously we've not been getting the results we've wanted earlier in the season but we've picked up now and what's happened has happened in the past. We just now need to look to the future and make it a positive one."
