Dundee United boss Robbie Neilson has praised keeper Benjamin Siegrist for the way he is coping with the pressure of being No.1 at a big club for the first time in his career.
The 27-year-old goalie kept a clean sheet up in Inverness on Saturday as the Tangerines won 2-0 thanks to goals from Pavol Safranko and Paul McMullan.
The Swiss stopper, who joined United last summer from Vaduz, has now played 33 times this season and Neilson admits he has been impressed with the keeper’s composure as the club start to gear up for the promotion play-offs.
The manager said: “I have said since he came in that he is a very good keeper.
“He is progressing but you have to remember he is still young in goalkeeping terms and has not played a lot of games.
“Defenders, goalkeepers, if you make an error you get punished a lot of the time but I think he has been very good recently.
“Yes, there have been a couple of issues here and there but if you looked at everybody on the pitch, they have had a lot more than Benji.
“So I have been very pleased with him and the way he has handled the pressure as well.
“This is the first time in his career he has been under that spotlight at a big club.
“Sometimes people get on your back but that’s part of being at a big club and he has handled that extremely well.”
Neilson also took time to applaud the efforts of his two central defenders, Mark Reynolds and Mark Connolly, for helping Siegrist keep that clean sheet in the Highlands.
Neilson said: “Inverness went 4-4-2 and started delivering good crosses but I thought the back four stood up to it.
“Our two centre-halves were the best players on the park.
“The strikers Pav and McMullan will get the credit but the two centre-halves were the ones who gave us that platform.
“We laid a marker down because we hadn’t won up there this season.
“The chances are it could be them in the play-offs. It is 50/50 with Ayr.
“But we have shown we can go up to Inverness, dominate the game and get three points.
“We also kept a clean sheet which was important.
“If we are sitting here in three weeks’ time 2-0 up we need to make sure we keep a clean sheet so I was pleased with that.”
With United already secure in second place in the Championship table, on paper there looks to be little to play for when Falkirk visit Tannadice on Saturday but Neilson is determined there will be no let-up from his players.
He added: “We have to win our home games, that’s for sure because we are building that momentum going into the play-offs.
“It is very important we keep the feel-good factor, the fans are excited and we build that togetherness towards the end of the season.”
