Dundee United 3-0 Raith Rovers

Andreu celebrates scoring United's second goal

Dundee United closed the gap on Championship leaders Hibernian to six points with a comfortable win over Raith Rovers at Tannadice.

Thomas Mikkelsen headed in from a Paul Dixon cross on the stroke of half-time.

Tony Andreu doubled the hosts' lead three minutes into the second half, slotting home following more good work from Dixon.

January loan signing Mikkelsen then grabbed his second goal with a clever, angled header.

With Hibs held to a surprise draw at home to Ayr United, Ray McKinnon's side had extra motivation to end a sequence of five games without a win and duly delivered against a side who have now gone 13 matches since tasting victory.

Rovers were dealt a blow when goalkeeper Kevin Cuthbert couldn't shake off a knock received after 18 minutes and he was replaced by Conor Brennan midway through the first half.

Both teams had sent out with attacking intentions but neither created a quality chance until the final five minutes of the first half. Kyle Benedictus met a free kick and his header across the box set-up Declan McManus, who headed well but his effort landed on top of the net.

United made more of their opportunity, Simon Murray's free kick cleared only as far as Dixon and his cross was met by Mikkelsen who scored with a header from inside the six yard box, his first goal for the club.

Dixon was again the provider three minutes into the second half when his low cross was not dealt with and Andreu controlled in the middle of the penalty area and sent it low into the corner.

United buoyed by the perfect start to the second half kept the pressure up and Blair Spittal shot wide.

Mikkelsen had vowed when he signed with United to be the 'new Duncan Ferguson' and he showed the home fans further evidence of his aerial ability after 53 minutes when he rose perfectly to meet Simon Murray's deep cross to power home his second.

With the game ended as a contest, Raith continued their endeavours but found themselves more often on the back foot as Murray, Scott Fraser and Andreu all had opportunities to extend United's lead.

Alex Nicholls made his debut replacing Mikkelsen, the Dane going off to a rousing reception from the home fans and he should have scored with his first touch but only hit the post after being teed up perfectly by Murray.

Post-match reaction

Dundee United manager Ray McKinnon: "Raith Rovers are a good side with lots of good players as I know from my time there last season. I knew we'd have to be patient and I'm delighted with the goal in the first half to go 1-0 up.

"I'm delighted for Thomas, he's come in here and everyone is expecting some sort of superstar. We know what Thomas is about and we knew if we got decent balls into the box for him he's a decent finisher, he's aggressive in the air and hopefully that's the start of a run for him."

Raith Rovers boss Gary Locke: "We lost a poor goal right on half-time and one right after it and it knocked the stuffing out of us and unfortunately the heads went down and we start feeling sorry for ourselves.

"We had a long chat after the game, the only way we are going to get out of the rut we are in is working hard. There is nothing I can do about confidence levels, early in the game we looked good but we can't let the heads go down when we lose a goal.

"Tuesday [at home to Morton] is important, we have a couple of games in hand. I've told the players that they are letting themselves down - they are better than that."