Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
To bring in up to summer spree
Ellis Simms’ near-post winner was a that shot Siegrist – on his best day – arguably gets a glove to.
However, Courts has kept faith with the composed keeper, who is out of contract in the summer, and was rewarded with a crucial clean sheet against Motherwell on Saturday.
Indeed, Siegrist made a wonderful point-blank save to deny Ross Tierney in the dying embers.
“Benji has set such high standards at Dundee United,” said Courts. “Any time he is perceived to have fallen beneath those, he is going to be a target.
“The fans expect such consistent performances.
“But Benji is never a concern to me because he has such a strong mentality.
“He is a big-game performer. You saw that with the save in the second half (to thwart Tierney).”
Meanwhile, Courts has hailed the “work rate and determination” of Marc McNulty despite a frustrating campaign.
The Scotland international has found the net just three times in 24 outings this season, with his progress interrupted on several occasions by injury woes.
Indeed, his luck was rather exemplified on Saturday when he was involved in a nasty, fluke collision with team-mate Liam Smith.
That resulted in the on-loan
Reading striker being replaced by Nicky Clark.
“Marc is a willing worker and a top player,” continued Courts.
“Probably because he has had a couple of injuries this season, he has not hit the form he maybe expected himself. But when he puts a tangerine shirt on you can see the work rate and determination.
“I hope he is going to be available for the next game (against Rangers).”
On the incident that led to McNulty’s withdrawal, Courts said: “The conditions were very tricky. The pitch was firm but quite greasy on top. What looked like a really promising move for us turned into a nightmare for Marc.”