Ross County co-manager Steven Ferguson has urged his players to stop being so charitable with the goals they are conceding.
The Staggies slumped to a 3-1 defeat to Aberdeen at Victoria Park on Saturday to stretch their winless run to seven – but it is the frequency and nature of the goals their side is conceding which is of the greatest concern to Ferguson, pictured, and co-boss Stuart Kettlewell.
The three goals County conceded on Saturday take their tally to 19 in the last six matches and 28 overall after 13 games with the Staggies’ last clean sheet coming in a goalless draw at Kilmarnock on September 28.
Ferguson knows the trend has to stop and said: “We’re playing good teams who know how to win. We need to make sure we stop making it so easy for them to score against us.
“Going back to the Premiership, we knew this was how it was going to be.
“We lost 3-1 at home but believe it or not we felt there were a lot of things to like about our performance on Saturday.
“But the manner of the goals we lost was again disappointing. We could have done things better and that’s the frustrating part for us. It’s something we need to sort out.”
Ferguson points to the first two goals his side conceded on Saturday – both from free kicks – as an example of the issues which need to be addressed within the team.
He said: “We let the first goal go through the wall then nobody touched the ball which came a long way for the second goal.
“Even the third goal they scored could have been dealt with better. Aberdeen were looking for a penalty before they scored, but we just need to clear our box in that situation. We had two opportunities to do that.
“We’re aware of that and we’ll go all out to stop it.”
Despite suffering back-to-back home defeats to Rangers and the Dons Ferguson believes the experience gained will be invaluable.
He said: “We’ve had two sell-outs in the last two home games and to have that benefit and feeling means you’re up against teams we have no given right to win points against.
“We’re trying – and the players are frustrated their efforts weren’t rewarded.”