Benjamin Siegrist believes a wall of tangerine at Tannadice tonight can help Dundee United secure a significant advantage in the first leg of the Premiership Play-off Final against St Mirren.
The big goalie admits he’s been impressed by the support Arabs have given their team all season.
But he was blown away as the fans cranked it up a level in Friday’s semi-final victory over Inverness Caley Thistle.
That second leg saw a season’s best of over 8,000 turn out but even more are expected for the first game against the Buddies.
And the Swiss believes that can give the home team an edge.
“It was a great atmosphere on Friday and Tannadice was the loudest it’s been since I’ve come here,” Siegrist said.
“We appreciate all the fans who have been coming all season.
“It’s big occasions now, more people are going to come and that’s great.
“We all want to be in those games, the fans want to be in those big games and I think there was a good togetherness.
“When there is a crowd like Friday’s, the stadium looks really big, it looks massive.
“It is just like an orange wall out there. It was really pleasing and that can be a big help to us.”
On the park, Siegrist believes United are capable of completing the job of getting back to the top flight after three long years away.
He believes the two games against Inverness last week showed they have everything required for the play-offs.
“In the first leg away from home and the first half on Friday we had to dig in because of the way Inverness play,” he added.
“You have to do that and it could be the same in the final because these games can be like that. It’s good we have shown we can do that side of the game.
“When we do have the ball we like to play forward and we will do that.
“The base for everything is the hard work and we have put in two great performances against Inverness where we did the nitty gritty first.
“There are times to battle, times to play football, times to waste time, times to speed things up and we have done all that. You want to be an all-round team.”
He quickly changes “team” to “squad” and over the two clashes with ICT, when injuries and illness meant changes had to be made, he believes United have shown they have strength in depth.
The first leg saw Pavol Safranko forced off due to illness, while the after effects of that and an injury to Calum Butcher saw Nicky Clark and Rachid Bouhenna come into the starting line-up for the return at Tannadice.
“We had to shuffle the team a bit but everybody knows he is important for this team because the gaffer stresses that and everyone is ready for when they are needed.
“Rachid came into the midfield and was everywhere for us, winning tackles and headers and you have to remember during Ramadan at the moment, it is not the easiest time for him but he put in an unbelievable performance.
“Nicky came in and he is such a dangerous player. When he shoots almost every time it’s a goal and it is great to have that.”
And although the two games against ICT were physically tough, he believes Neilson’s men are going into the final feeling physically and mentally strong.
“We could enjoy Friday because we have a good rest before the next game and we were right to feel euphoric.
“We are buzzing but the gaffer has made us aware there are still two games to go.
“The energy from the boys on Friday was great and it will be the same again in these games.”
This article originally appeared on the Evening Telegraph website. For more information, read about our new combined website.