He said things have to improve all over the pitch and they have to do more to take the initiative during games in their bid to stay up.

"I felt we were just hoping to get there – we stopped playing," said Hughes.

"We should have got the ball side-to-side and not let the goal affect us. We chased it too much.

"The second one, once again, it's a habit of ours. We've recognised it and looked at it. We brought everyone back but we still concede.

"That's really disappointing. All credit to United but I feel we've given them two goals. We need to be better at a lot of stuff, including our passing – we need to look after it better.

"Now we're trying to evolve and move it forward, I felt it would be us trying to dominate the ball. But to do that you have to be brave and get on the ball.

"That's the hardest thing to do in football and today, after that first goal, I just felt we played too straight – and right into their hands."

Dundee United boss Micky Mellon praised striker Shankland for finding the net in their 2-0 win in the Highlands.

Shankland missed two golden chances to score in the first half but Mellon praised him for maintaining his belief to find the net after the break.

Mellon said: "I said to him at half-time what does a good player do, Lawrence? He said don't get disappointed, he moves on and believes at some stage he will get there because he is a good player.

"He knew he couldn't dwell on the earlier chances and these are lessons the boys are learning. They are coming out of the Championship and people forget that.

"They are learning all the time. I am not making excuses because I am one of them. "When the learning opportunities come then we have to learn from it and that was a big step forward for us.

"If you use him properly he is very capable, we know that. Sometimes has the service been good enough? "Sometimes has he been aggressive enough? It works both ways and it is good getting his goal today."