Tam Courts has revealed that tireless Ross Graham asked to train with Dundee United mere hours after stepping off an eight-and-a-half hour flight from Kazakhstan.
Graham, 21, enjoyed an unforgettable Scotland under-21 debut in Almaty on Tuesday, bagging the opening goal in a 2-2 draw.
Due to the war in Ukraine, the already-mammoth 7000-mile round-trip was extended.
An altered flight-path saw the team redirected south of the conflict, avoiding restricted airspace.
The result was an even longer journey for the young Scots, who touched down in Scotland at around 4 a.m. on Wednesday morning.
And Graham still had to get back to Dundee.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROSS GRAHAM!"
Rangers go behind at Tannadice Park as Ross Graham gets the goal for Dundee United on his 21st birthday 🥳
📺 Watch live on Sky Sports Football pic.twitter.com/3R5yeCXdT6
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) February 20, 2022
Yet, Courts has revealed that Graham offered to take part in training that day, only for him to tell the in-form stopper to take a well-earned break.
“Ross actually volunteered to come in and train on Wednesday,” revealed Courts. “We had to say to him, ‘no, spend a day in the house!’
“The flight was more than eight hours because of the route it had to take.
“But he did train on Thursday and you can imagine how he feels. He has represented his country, he scored a goal and we are fighting for top-six [in the Premiership] — he is having a lot of good experiences at the moment.
“Ross’ mentality has been: any opportunity I get, I’ll maximise it. And he’s just hit a purple patch of coming in, performing well, scoring against Rangers, getting his Scotland under-21 debut, scoring on that.
“Even simple things like coming on at half-time against St Mirren and performing to such a good level shows a lot of maturity and mentality.
“There are a lot of good things happening for Ross at the moment.”
Bumper following
Now back in training and showing no ill-effects of his international bow, Graham will be part of the United squad that travels to face Hibernian on Saturday.
A victory could effectively assure United top-six football after the split — depending on results elsewhere — and would put the Tangerines in pole position for the final European qualification place.
And the importance of the contest has been underlined by the bumper travelling support, with around 2,000 away fans set to descend upon the South Stand at Easter Road.
Indeed, the Hibees opened an additional section from the initial allocation, such was demand.
Asked about the benefits of frustrating a home support desperate to see their side usurp United in the race for Europe, Courts said: “It is actually the flip side of that.
“We have to focus on the crowd we have. I think we are taking 2,000 fans down and that shows they recognise it is such an important game.
“Our away fans have given us tremendous backing.
“I like to think, as a collective, we are one win away from sealing that top six place. Everyone recognises that it is about coming together over these next two games to get over the line.”
New arrival
Courts, meanwhile, hopes to have a temporary goalkeeping coach in place ahead of the trip to the capital. A more permanent appointment will then be made at the end of the campaign.
Tony Caig, who replaced Neil Alexander last summer, left the club last month to join Newcastle United’s academy structure.
And Courts added: “We are looking to secure somebody long-term. Contractually, we are trying to negotiate on that.
“We are also looking at a short-term measure. We hope to have somebody in place over the next 24 to 48 hours.”
