Courts still upbeat for Dens clash despite loss

TAM COURTS last night insisted Dundee United will go into Tuesday’s derby with Dundee emboldened by their Celtic Park showing.

Industrious and organised until the very last seconds of the 90 minutes, the Tannadice side were finally breached by Liel Abada’s goal as the game moved towards stoppage-time.

The match was watched by Dundee boss James McPake, who took advantage of his own team’s postponement to make the trip to Glasgow. Both sides have struggled to pick up points in recent weeks but Courts reckons his players will have taken great encouragement from taking Celtic to the wire.

‘Form goes out the window for a derby but we’ll focus on ourselves because we’re in a good place and excited about going to Dens,’ said the United manager afterwards. ‘The key thing is to be calm and clear on Tuesday night so they bring their quality.

‘That has served us well in big games including the derby we won earlier this season at Tannadice. I have belief in these players and the work we do. We’re confident.’

Abada’s goal provided a particularly cruel end to the match for goalkeeper Benjamin Siegrist, who had defied the Parkhead side with a succession of brilliant and occasionally unorthodox saves.

‘The goalkeeper has to perform really well when you come to Celtic Park,’ added Courts. ‘Benji is a top shot-stopper and the save he made with his foot was probably the pick of the bunch.

‘One lapse in defence cost us. I’m disappointed for our fans and the players because I think we were worthy of a point in terms of executing a game plan really well.

‘My frustration is that we didn’t sustain enough attacks and cause Celtic problems. But in terms of endeavour, we merited a point.’

Courts hopes to have captain Ryan Edwards back for Tuesday but faces a wait to see if defender Scott McMann will make it.

He added: ‘McMann took a knock on the leg and is being assessed. Ryan has a personal situation — his girlfriend is heavily pregnant.

‘But the players are adamant they want to be involved on Tuesday night.

‘In the past week, we’ve played 120 minutes in the Scottish Cup and won, we came from behind on Wednesday to win a big three points ( against Ross County) and performed admirably today. This has to be a catalyst for the derby.’