Ross County manager Derek Adams has challenged his players to convince him he does not need to dip into the transfer market again in January.
Adams carried out a major overhaul of his squad this January and, with the window due to open again in the new year he is assessing his squad.
County have taken 10 points so far this season but were punished for a below-par performance on Saturday as champions Celtic ran out comfortable 4-1 winners at Victoria Park.
Adams insisted his players will dictate whether he carries out a repeat of last season’s busy spell.
He said: “Will it be a busy transfer window? That depends, because we have a lot of games until January 1. I feel we have players in the squad who are just starting to come out of their shell. They’re just starting to show why they have come to the football club.
“We also have players on the sidelines who have not been able to get into the team yet. It’s always the case the players will influence my thinking in the transfer window.
“For example, Darren Maatsen is a very good player who is vying for positions against Richard Brittain and Ivan Sproule at times. That’s good.”
It was only Celtic’s second win at Victoria Park. County beat Celtic and drew with them twice at Dingwall last season and Adams had hoped to keep his side’s strong home form against the champions going, but had no complaints about the result.
He said: “I don’t want to make any excuses, we just have to hold our hands up and admit the best team won. We got back to 2-1 and I was thinking maybe we would have an opportunity to get back into the game but we shot ourselves in the foot by letting them get a third right after we scored.”
County have played 11 games, two fewer than most of their rivals, and Adams is confident of a rise up the table in the coming weeks.
He said: “A couple of wins can really make a difference in the table and we didn’t really start until January last season.”