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St Mirren boss Danny Lennon hailed his side's work rate after victory against Dundee United lifted the Buddies 12 points clear of the relegation zone.

The Paisley outfit got the better of United in a seven-goal thriller in the final Scottish Premier League match of the year.

"A terrific three points for us," asserted Lennon.

"The key ingredient to our success is our work rate; not individually, as a team. It's fantastic."

Lennon's men have taken seven points out of nine in their last three matches and are now nearer the top six than they are to bottom club Dundee.

"It was a terrific game in a very difficult place to come to and I've got to give Dundee Untied a lot of credit," said Lennon.

"I felt we got off to a cracking start in the first 30 minutes and then they scored two goals through nothing.

"But we always believed, even at half-time, that the game was there for us and we got off to a terrific start, started the second half the way we began the first half and we.

"We took the game right to them and deservedly got ourselves into a two-goal lead."

That two-goal lead was reduced when Barry Douglas netted for the hosts but it proved only to be a consolation as David van Zanten's somewhat fortunate goal - a cross that meandered into the net - proved to be the winner.

And Lennon joked: "As David was going on his wee solo run, [assistant manager Tommy Craig] was saying 'where's he going, where's he going?'

"The next minute, the ball's in the net. What do us coaches know?"