Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Finer details can help Ross County stun Celtic, insists captain Keith Watson

Ross County defender and club captain Keith Watson
Ross County defender and club captain Keith Watson

Club captain Keith Watson believes Ross County will go into battle against Celtic on Wednesday armed with the best possible information at hand to try to beat the holders.

The Hoops, fresh from a record 9-0 away competitive win at Dundee United on Sunday, face County in the second round of the Premier Sports Cup. This was a result which ultimately cost United boss Jack Ross his job on Tuesday.

The second-round tie in Dingwall comes just a few weeks after two late goals sealed a 3-1 away victory for the Scottish champions in the league.

And defender Watson says manager Malky Mackay and his backroom staff have detailed where they can close the gap during 90 minutes or more.

He said: “We’ve learned how we can frustrate them. Their movement is really good and they invert their full-backs.

“Their wingers stay wide and wait for the ball, but from meetings we have we have all the information we need going into games to frustrate them and we know exactly how we can hurt them as well.

“We’ll have to be disciplined with a good shape as we won’t have a lot of the ball.

“We’ll wait for that right moment to catch them, on the counter-attack, or at a set-piece where we can put it into an area where our big boys can go and attack it.

“There’s always a chance they can get on the end of it.”

Staggies ‘can cause Celtic problems’

Former Dundee United player Watson, 32, has been with the Staggies since 2018, and he’s sure County can rise to the challenge of facing the rampant Hoops just five days after losing 4-0 away to Rangers in the league.

He said: “The mood’s good. It is disappointing to lose any game, but going to Celtic or Rangers is always tough.

Ross County’s Keith Watson (right) tussles with Dunfermline’s Lewis McCann.

“We know on our day, especially up here on a Wednesday night in the cup, we can definitely go and cause Celtic problems. It is one where the boys are raring to go and looking forward to it.

“We always seem to do reasonably well against the Old Firm up here. We played them a couple of weeks ago in the league and caused them problems – they left it late to go 2-1 up before winning 3-1.

“We’ll take a bit of confidence from that and we’ll go into Wednesday’s game looking to cause an upset.”

Focus switched swiftly to Celtic

From facing one Champions League team to another, Watson explained County have swept aside their disappointment of Rangers’ defender James Sands not being sent off when he hauled down striker Jordy Hiwula when it was 0-0 and he was already booked.

He is confident, with a packed Global Energy Stadium, they can test Ange Postecoglou’s razor-sharp visitors.

He added: “Celtic and Rangers are both Champions League sides this season, so you need to ride your luck at times.

“Against Rangers on Saturday, I thought we started the game well. Ross Laidlaw had a couple of good saves which you need from your goalkeeper in these games.

“Everyone has seen back the incident where their player should have been off, but the game is done. We lost it.

“Now we have a quick game coming up and it is good to get the Rangers game out of our minds and focus on Celtic.

“There is going to be a great atmosphere here and it is one the lads are really looking forward to.”

Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou saw his team tested in a 3-1 league win earlier this month at Ross County.

Taking heart from latest displays

And Watson sees no reason why his team cannot once more make it a testing night for the League Cup holders as both sides eye a shot of reaching round three.

He said: “Celtic are on top form and they’ve been really clinical.

“I saw bits of the United game on Sunday and 9-0 at Tannadice, usually a tough place to go, is quite something.

“They have good players, but we’ve faced them before and done well, taking them to the 84th minute or whatever to go up 2-1

“We’ve had them worried with 10 minutes to go, needing a goal.

“We definitely fancy our chances up here. Listen, it is going to be a tough game – they’re a very good side – but we fancy our chances of causing an upset.”

Visiting supporters arriving in force

Celtic fans will occupy two of the stands for this midweek tussle, but Watson hopes it’s a trip that ends on a low note for them.

He said: “It is good having all the stands full as it makes for a better atmosphere.

“That will be good for our lads and hopefully Ross County can upset the away fans and send them down the road disappointed.”

Conversation