After a week in which he had been personally criticised by his chairman and also slated in the Press by ex-manager and chairman Jim McLean, Ian McCall was a very happy man to see his team finally find form and lift themselves off the bottom of the table.
With wholesale changes in his team, United began the game in a subdued atmosphere wtih their lowest attendance of the season. Killie took immediate control with dominance in possession and they had the first quality move of the game in the 14th minute with Allan Johnson wastefully blasting over from seven yards. The midfielder should have done better after excellent work from Chris Boyd and Steven Naismith.
At this point United were struggling, although Jim McIntyre had tried to lift their spirits wiht a 25-yard effort. Much against the run of play, United went ahead with a wicked deflection.
Grant Brebner had gathered the ball from Jason Scotland and found space for himself to shoot. Although it was not a clear strike, his shot deflected off McIntyre past the outstretched arms of the diving Alan Combe.
And it was just a few minutes later when they double their lead with another fortuitious goal. A superb in-swinging corner from Barry Robson was missed by all, including two swipes from Killie defenders, and it flew into the far corner of the net.
McCall had been complaining in recent months that his team had not been getting any breaks, but this was certainly not the case today.
Kilmarnock really should have clawed one back before the break when Naismith's header appeared to go over the line, but Robson was on hand to head it back off the underside of the bar. David Lilleys subseqent follow -up was blasted wide, while the frustrated Kilmarnock bench saw that the nearside assistant referee was behind play and therefore not in a position to judge if the ball had gone over.
The game was won 30 seconds into the second period when United made it three. Mark Wilson's free-kick was glided into the net by the head of McIntyre, giving Combe no chance.
With confidence restored United began to move the ball around and the visitors appeared to be chasing shadows. United even had the luxury of missing five glaring opportunities.
But Ian McCall wouldn't have been too concerned about that as he was just glad to see a victory which lifted his team off the foot of the table.