How Dundee United kept it simple to delight Tam Courts after 'the worst' display at St Mirren

Dundee United manager Tam Courts praised his team's resilience after they came from behind to defeat St Mirren in Paisley.

Dundee United manager Tam Courts with St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

Jay Henderson had put the home side in front before Dylan Levitt equalised and Marc McNulty grabbed the equaliser after Saints goalkeeper Jak Alnwick had been sent off.

The win moves United up to fourth place in the cinch Premiership table and Courts felt it could be a significant result with just two matches remaining before the league split.

He said: "We've only been beaten twice in about 10 or 11 games so we've been pretty resolute. But at this stage of the season three points are pretty significant.

Tom Courts and Nicky Clark at full time. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

"I felt this was a must-win game for both teams today because of the way the fixtures were landing elsewhere. And that's why we were determined to push on and get the victory in the end.

"What a time and what a moment it was to score. And it's a huge opportunity for us to go on to finish the season strongly.

"The first 45 minutes today was probably up there with the worst in my tenure. The timing and the manner of the St Mirren goal rocked us a little bit. It dented our confidence and we couldn't get any rhythm.

"In the second 45 minutes we just tried to simplify it for the players. We made a couple of changes that naturally helped us and once we got back to level terms I felt there was only going to be one team that was going to win the match."

His opposite number Stephen Robinson had no complaints about the result that sees St Mirren stay in ninth place.

He said: "I didn't think we deserved anything. We started brilliantly with Jay's goal, it was a superb strike. I thought him and Conor Ronan were the only bright sparks that we had.

"We didn't pass the ball well enough in the second half when United started turning us. We didn't defend well enough and were taken touches when we shouldn't have been.

"I think it was fear. We had a 20-minute spell before half-time when we controlled the game and had lots of corners but we came out in the second half and we stepped off.

"I didn't think our forward players gave us anything in terms of our press. We didn't play or pass the ball, so if you're not going to do that you're going to play the next 47 minutes defending and we didn't defend well enough when we needed to."

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