Dundee United returned to the Scottish Premiership’s top six for the first time since the end of October with a convincing victory away to bottom side Livingston.
Zac Sapsford’s close-range strike, a Ryan McGowan own goal and an Amar Fatah solo effort secured the points before Connor McLennan’s late reply.
While it was only United’s second win in 11 outings, they are now unbeaten in five after ending a eight-game wait for a victory away from home.
Livingston, though, have now gone 18 games without a victory – 17 in the league – with nine of them at home and are four adrift at the bottom.
They would have been hoping for the kind of fast start that produced two early goals and plenty plaudits against Celtic at the weekend, but it was United who were the ones quickest out the blocks.
Sapsford’s side-footed drive off a post set the tone and Dario Naamo came close twice after ghosting in at the back post, his first effort being cleared off the line by Danny Wilson, with the centre-back also deflecting wide a Luca Stephenson drive.
The breakthrough came when a corner deflected off home striker Stevie May and Sapsford poked home from close range on the turn.
Naamo was again denied by Prior’s superb low save before the pressure continued after the break.
Sapsford just failed to connect with a Will Ferry cross and a curling Craig Sibbald effort struck the near post.
Livingston did manage some pressure, with goalkeeper Dave Richards denying Robbie Muirhead and McLennan in quick succession.
However, when Prior’s punch off the line hit centre-half McGowan’s face and over his own line, the points were secured before Fatah’s late solo goal and McLennan’s driven reply.
Martindale told BBC Scotland before kick-off that he wants five new players in – and five out – during January, with his focus on adding goals.
His one change from a heartening tussle with Celtic was up front, with Jeremy Bokila replacing Tete Yengi, but after this display, he will surely be looking to improve at both ends.
United counterpart Jim Goodwin was able to use his greater strength in depth by making four changes, with Iurie Iovu, Vicko Sevelj and Amar Fatah all perhaps unfortunate to drop the bench after impressing against Aberdeen last time out.
This time, it was Ferry’s deliveries from the left and Naamo’s late runs into the box from the right that had Livingston in constant bother.
Meanwhile, Sapsford will hope his eighth goal of the season and continuous threat up front will catch the eye of Australia head coach Tony Popovic in the run up to the World Cup.
While United are looking up – having leapfrogged Falkirk and Aberdeen into the top half – Livingston find themselves nine points behind third bottom St Mirren and with only Kilmarnock now in striking distance.
Livingston manager David Martindale: “I don’t think we started the game well and lost a really bad first goal.
“That’s possibly our worst performance of the season. It’s definitely our worst home performance.
“We’ve been fairly competitive at home. Tonight we weren’t. The first goal went in and then we just felt sorry for ourselves and there was just an acceptance.”
Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin: “Everybody knows what a difficult venue this is to come to, but I thought the performance from the start right through to the finish, apart from the goal we concede late on, was excellent.
“Every player played their part and the backline did brilliantly against Livingston, who are a big, physical team.
“We knew we would carry a threat on the counter attack. We highlighted some areas in the Livingston backline that we thought we could exploit and I thought we targeted those areas really well, getting down the sides of them.”
Livingston visit league leaders Hearts on Saturday, while Dundee United entertain city rivals Dundee in the derby (both 15:00 BST).
