ALLAN JOHNSTON says his team are happy to be written off as title contenders – and believes they made a “big statement” on day one.

Athletic kicked off their Championship campaign on Saturday at Dundee United – who they had not beaten in 15 attempts, and lost to in last season’s Premiership play-offs – and ended their Tangerine hoodoo with a slick second half show.

The result also maintained their winning start to the season, which included a notable Betfred Cup win at Dundee, and Johnston reckons some pundits who may have thought his side wouldn’t be in the reckoning may be forced to sit up and take notice.

“Dundee United will be up there and they’ve got good players as well, so it’s a big statement going there,” he commented.

“You look at some people’s predictions as well, saying we’re not even going to be in the top four or whatever – I think Derek Ferguson said we were going to be sixth – but we don’t listen to people like that anyway.

“If people decide to write us off, that’s fine, but we’ve got to make sure we put performances on the park to make teams stand up and take note.

“It’s one result that’s got to be followed by the next result. There’s got to be consistency and the players have done that so far.

“It was going to take a really good performance to go there and win, especially after going a goal down, and the boys were excellent.

“You ask for big performances and that’s what that was. We’ve just got to make sure we maintain those standards.”

Johnston, who hasn’t ruled out adding to his squad but stressed he is pleased with his current pool, is relishing the visit of another of the pre-season title favourites, Ross County, on Saturday.

The return of ex-Pars Callum Morris and Declan McManus will provide added spice and Johnston continued: “We know them well and we’ll respect Ross County because they’ve got good players, but we’ve got to make them defend and have a go.

“It’s brilliant if you’re going into games expecting to play well and knowing that you can score and, if you look at us going forward, I think we’ll cause any team problems.”

On his squad, he added: “If something came up that we felt would help improve the squad, or give us more competition, then we’ll look at it but I’m happy with the squad just now.”