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Ross County Fans’ Panel: The October assessment

Staggies supporters reflect on a rising month for the Staggies and look ahead to three more fixtures in November.

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Ross County are ninth in Premiership table after kicking off November with a 0-0 draw at St Mirren on Saturday.

Their 12-point tally is the same as three sides immediately above them – Kilmarnock, St Mirren and Dundee – in a tight top table.

In October, the Dingwall side collected four points from four fixtures, with a strong, disciplined performance ending in a 2-1 home loss against Brendan Rodgers’ defending champions Celtic.

After an international break came perhaps County’s most disappointing day under Cowie since he replaced Derek Adams in the summer, aside from the 6-0 loss at Rangers.

An unexpected 3-0 defeat at St Johnstone, who had just appointed manager Simo Valakari, came out of nowhere, although red cards for defender Eli Campbell and midfielder Charlie Telfer added to the challenge for the Ross-shire team.

County bounced back with a gutsy performance as they came from one goal down to defeat Derek McInnes’ 10-man Kilmarnock 2-1 at the Global Energy Stadium.

And on October 30, County dug deep to take a point from a goalless draw against Hibs.

Our Ross County fans’ panel analyses the previous month and looks ahead to the next few weeks of action.

Our guest panellists this month are Ross Morren from the County Corner podcast and supporters’ liaison officer Kenny MacLennan.

Ross Morren, from the County Corner.
Ross Morren, from the County Corner.

The Staggies ended October on 11 points from their first 11 Premiership fixtures. Are you content with that haul or should it have been more?

Ross Morren: I’m pretty content with County’s haul of points in October. The international break probably came at the wrong time for Don Cowie and his side as, despite a defeat against Celtic, the performance was very encouraging and it felt like there was a bit of momentum building in Dingwall.

Following the international break, the defeat against St Johnstone in Perth was bitterly disappointing. It was a day where if anything could go wrong it did.

The manager will have demanded a reaction from his side when they returned to home comforts in Dingwall to face Kilmarnock who were full of confidence after defeating Rangers.

It’s safe to say he got the reaction he wanted from his side as they took advantage of Liam Donnelly’s red card to come from behind and pick up a 2-1 victory.

County fans were hopeful the visit of Hibs to Dingwall was another good opportunity to pick up more points. County were the better side in the opening 45 minutes, but failed to capitalise, however in the second half Hibs then looked more likely to pick up three points.

Ross County supporter liaison officer Kenny MacLennan.
Ross County supporter liaison officer Kenny MacLennan.

Kenny MacLennan: I’d say 11 points isn’t too bad all things considered given some of the difficult fixtures we’ve had recently, but when you think it took a last-minute winner from a high-flying Aberdeen side who are joint equal on points with Celtic, we’ve done not too bad so far this season.

Our home form has been excellent and, if it hadn’t been for the international breaks, we might have kept the momentum going and managed to grab some more points away from home.

It’s like these breaks come at a time where we are kicking on and the break upsets our rhythm, that’s my humble opinion anyway!

I still think we’ll take important points from teams at home this season and a lot of teams won’t relish coming up to Dingwall.

Like every supporter, I’d love to see more away points on the board and I’d love to see us beat the teams around us more often – but I’m always super proud of my hometown team and the fact we are still matching up to a lot of the top-flight teams.

What aspects have pleased you the most about the team, and is there anything still concerning you?

RM: The defensive resilience of this side has been very impressive. The Staggies have been criticised over recent seasons for their defensive record.

However, in the Premiership only Celtic and Rangers have kept more clean sheets than Don Cowie’s side this season.

Kacper Lopata and Akil Wright have been outstanding additions to the heart of the County defence, while Ryan Leak looks to have stepped up his game to another level.

When called upon, Ross Laidlaw has been impressive yet again between the posts.

For Scottish goalkeeepers playing in the Premiership this season, Laidlaw leads the way for clean sheets, number of saves made, save percentage and goals prevented.

Based on those stats and his performances in recent years, Laidlaw is more than deserving of a Scotland call-up.

The only concern I’ve had from October is a lack of goals from open play. Ronan Hale’s goal against Celtic came from the penalty spot, while the two goals against Kilmarnock from set pieces.

Some of the patterns of play across those matches have been very good and led to chances, however County fans will want to see a bit more creativity in the final third to create chances for the forward players like Hale and Jordan White.

Ross County captain Connor Randall in action
Ross County captain Connor Randall. Image: SNS.

KM: The club has completed some really good business this season and brought in some cracking players, the likes of Ronan Hale, Noah Chilvers, Josh Nisbet, Aidan Denholm, Akil Wright, Kacper Lopata, and Eli Campbell have been excellent additions to the squad.

One of the things that pleases me is how quickly the team has gelled given there have been so many new additions and that’s testament to Don and his back room staff.

One of the key things for me has been the appointment of Connor Randall as captain and Jordan White as vice captain. Both guys are players the rest of the squad look up to and both guys lead by example on and off the park.

Randall, for me, has been a revelation since being moved into midfield and always puts in some shift in every game, similar can be said about Jordan who always gives his all for the team.

Putting your body on the line and having to raise your game is so vital to how we have to perform in this league – a team the size of Ross County has to fight and work that bit harder to match up to the other teams in this league who have bigger resources.

I’m delighted with the squad and what I am seeing on the pitch.  I’d obviously like to see us pick up more wins, and to get that away victory in order to get that away statistic put to bed – but I’m confident it’ll come.

I still think we could do with an out and out wide player to help us open up opposition defences – but I’m seeing enough fight and determination in the squad under Don that makes me confident that we’ll be fine this season.

Eamonn Brophy in action against Dundee United in August's 1-1 draw in Dingwall
Eamonn Brophy in action against Dundee United in August’s 1-1 draw in Dingwall. Image: SNS.

November got under way with a 0-0 draw at St Mirren. This weekend, County are off to Dundee United before hosting Motherwell on November 23 and visiting champions Celtic one week later. What is a realistic points haul to aim for this month?

RM: This month’s fixtures is a great opportunity to pick up some more points. The draw in Paisley was hard-fought one, but it’s a game County would have probably lost last season.

County have a good recent record against Dundee United and will hope to continue that this weekend. Most fans will be happy with a draw, but I think there’s a chance to end the year-long Premiership away day hoodoo at Tannadice.

Motherwell have had a good start to the season and remain one of only three sides who have left Dingwall with all three points since Cowie’s appointment back in February. There was nothing to split the two sides in the 0-0 draw on the opening day of the season, so I’m hopeful we can take advantage of home comforts and pick up another home victory.

Finally, any points gained against Celtic would be a massive and hugely unexpected bonus. So overall, I’d be delighted with anything between five and seven points this month.

KM: St Mirren are a good side and have been over the last couple of seasons,  so a point away to St Mirren I’d take any day.

Heading to Tannadice will be another tough game given they’ve had a decent start to the season, but I’m hopeful we’ll give any side a game this season especially in Dingwall – the key thing is that we match up on the pitch and take our chances when they come.

Our defensive displays recently have been solid and it’ll not be easy for any team to break us down. That’s one of the key things for me for any Ross County side, first and foremost is being hard to beat – and this season I’m seeing that from the players. We are more organised and showing real determination in games – hopefully we can get something from the game.

Five or six points would be a good target for the month and would keep us in the mix with the teams around us.

I still think we will cause some upsets again this season with teams visiting Dingwall.

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