The former Scotland defender has had to prove the doubters wrong since being appointed in the summer.

However, having won two William Hill Premiership games in a row earlier this week, Dundee made it a hat-trick of victories by beating United thanks to a solitary Ash Hay goal.

The 52-year-old is seeing real progress in his team and said: “It’s not been easy. I always tell myself the suffering is worth it. But I’ve seen so many cases where that’s not entirely true!

“But it’s the players who keep me going at times. The players get me out of my bed in the morning, they’ve been amazing.

“I see real growth in them. As a team, I think there’s some real green shoots.”

When asked if he had finally won the Dundee fans over, Pressley replied: “No! The one thing that I do know is this, there’s always some difficult times ahead. There will be.

“But you have to enjoy moments like this. I’m going to go back down to England to see my family tomorrow.

“So I’m sure I’ll have a couple of glasses of red and enjoy their company because you do have to enjoy it.

“My staff have been amazing and they’ve had to endure, like me, some difficult periods. But days like this do make it worth it, I will say that.”

Pressley added: “I think there were elements of our performance today that have really grown.

“We spoke at half-time about the way Dundee United beat Celtic here, shooting into their home support at that end and putting the opposition under a lot of pressure.

“They did that with us today. But we were able to stand up to a game and endure it.

“I think that that’s been growing over the last four or five months.”

United boss Jim Goodwin insisted his side did not deserve to lose the game.

The Irishman said: “Ultimately, the result is all that matters to either set of supporters. We’ve let our fans down by not winning the game, but it certainly wasn’t through a lack of effort.

“I thought there was nothing in the first 45 minutes. I think they scored with the first attempt on target right on half-time.

“That goal ultimately comes from a poor mistake from us in terms of decision-making in that moment.

“In the second half, we expected a reaction from the players and I thought we were dominant in the second 45 minutes.

“I don’t believe we deserve to lose the game.”