United striker Ross McCormack ended the goal drought at Elland Road against Bournemouth - and now believes more will follow.

The striker scored the opening goal of Tuesday's 2-1 win against Bournemouth, and delivered what manager Brian McDermott described as a 'gutsy' performance.

Ross had endured the agony of watching Daryl Flahavan save his first half penalty, but when Stephen Warnock delivered a peach of a ball in after the break, the Scot made no mistake.

“We knew at the start of the night that we had to get three points, regardless of how it came,” he said.

“Whether we played well or we didn’t, we needed the points and we got them.

“When you lose four on the bounce you need three points and thankfully we did that. It was a little nervy towards the end. We probably should have been out of sight.

“We’ll take the positives, which is the three points and two goals which have been hard to come by in recent weeks.

“I hadn’t scored in six and then I missed the penalty. It’s easy to let your head go down but I didn’t do that. I kept my head and obviously huge thanks to Stephen Warnock for putting a good ball in."

Ross has played in a variety of roles over the past 15 months - usually out wide or behind the main strikers - but he remains confident that if handed a striking role, he can deliver.

“I’ve probably not played up front as a two since Simon Grayson left,” said Ross, who started alongside Noel Hunt in the striking positions on Tuesday. “But I’ll maintain what I said that if I play up front I’ll score goals.

“It keeps getting mentioned that we need a striker but I’m ready to step up and notch a few.

“I can’t speak for the other players saying that they are going to do this or that.

“But what I can say is that I believe if I play up front and balls come into the box I’ll score goals. Hopefully I can prove that over the coming months.”

The player admits to not having set any targets this campaign and says that the playing staff echo the manager and his ambitions for the season ahead.

“No targets have been set, and we can only echo the words of the manager,” added the striker. 

“We can only take the next game. If you start worrying about five or six games down the line it’s not going to happen.

“We need to really kick on at Derby, show a good attitude, be resolute and take three points.”