Dundee United have the quality to bounce back - Bilate

Bilate scored two goals in 18 United appearances

Mario Bilate has "100% belief" that his old club Dundee United can find the form required to pull away from relegation trouble.

Saturday's 2-1 home defeat to Hamilton Accies left United seven points adrift at the foot of the Premiership.

Bilate left the club by mutual consent earlier this month after picking up a season-ending injury.

"I still have 100% belief that with the group we have right now, Dundee United will bounce back from this," he said.

The Tannadice club have won just two of their 16 league fixtures this season, and have lost seven of their last eight matches.

Bilate, who joined United in the summer of 2014 after a spell with Sparta Rotterdam, saw enough in his time with the club to believe that Mixu Paatelainen's squad has enough quality to climb the table.

United have won just two of their 16 league matches this season

"I'm very confident of the club bouncing back from the situation they are in right now," the Russian-born striker told BBC Scotland.

"We've been unlucky a lot of times in a lot of games. We play good football and just don't manage to pull in the three points.

"As soon as we start winning games again that confidence will grow. If the confidence is low at this point you can't really blame anyone or anything. That's just the way things go."

Injuries restricted Bilate to just 18 appearances for United, only eight of which were starts, scoring two goals.

'No egos in the dressing room'

Despite their recent poor form, Bilate says he saw no sign of any disharmony in the United dressing room before his departure.

"Based on what I've seen and what I've experienced, I would say that the dressing room really hasn't changed that much.

"I don't know how it is now because I haven't been there for almost a month but I would have to say that Dundee United is the only club I've been at where there are no egos in the dressing room.

Everyone is good with each other. Everyone is always having a good laugh."

Bilate also paid tribute to those involved with the club who supported him while he was sidelined through injury.

"My experience with the technical staff was that they were very patient with me even though I kept breaking down. I've only got positive things to say about the people in the club.

"My biggest regret is that I wasn't able to pay them back for the patience and confidence they had in me."