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Carl Tremarco encouraged by new-look Ross County defence

The Staggies assistant boss feels the defence are "in a good place" this season, with four clean sheets on the board.

Ross County assistant manager Carl Tremarco. Image: SNS.
Ross County assistant manager Carl Tremarco. Image: SNS.

Ross County assistant manager Carl Tremarco reckons the Staggies’ backline are on the right track in the Premiership this season.

Dundee United displayed a lethal streak with three second half goals to win 3-0 at Tannadice at the weekend.

That set-back followed successive goalless draws with Hibs and St Mirren and a 2-1 home victory over Kilmarnock.

Don Cowie’s team, who are ninth in the table going into this international break, have also given the unbeaten top two, Celtic and Aberdeen, stern tests in Dingwall.

On August 31, a Kevin Nisbet goal deep in stoppage time earned the Dons a 1-0 win and it took two goals in the last 15 minutes for Celtic to recover from a goal down to win 2-1 in October.

The flip side is they have lost 6-0 at Rangers, 3-0 at St Johnstone and Dundee United and needed a late comeback to draw 3-3 at home to St Johnstone.

Only Celtic’s Kasper Schmeichel (nine) and Rangers’ Jack Butland (six) have registered more clean sheets than the four recorded by County’s Ross Laidlaw this season.

The Staggies’ three-man central defensive pairing of Akil Wright, Kacper Lopata and Ryan leak have impressed during the first quarter of the season.  Wright and Lopata both moved to County in the summer.

Cowie, in his first season in charge of the club he served so well as a player, handed his vacant assistant boss role to Tremarco, who had been the club’s head of professional academy and loans manager.

Learning lessons from leaked goals

Tremarco, a Scottish Cup winner with Caley Thistle, told the Press and Journal said: “I sat down with the defenders this week and explained that I believe, as a unit, we are in a good place, defensively.

“It’s all ifs and buts, yet you can go back to the Rangers game in which we went into a back four, and that was the first time we had done that this season.

“Maybe we were not prepared for that, although it was a bad performance.

“From the three goals we conceded at home to St Johnstone, two were free-kicks, and the three we conceded away to St Johnstone, we were down to 10 men in the first half then nine later in the game.

<span style="vertical-align: inherit"><span style="vertical-align: inherit">Dundee United’s Owen Stirton made it 3-0 late on against Dundee United last weekend. Image: SNS.</span></span>

“Last weekend at Tannadice, United put three past us in the second half after we had been solid as a unit.

“We’ve had clean sheets against Motherwell, Dundee, Hibs and St Mirren, and Aberdeen scored in the 96th minute to win 1-0. That would have been another great point.

“As a unit, we’re okay. I wouldn’t be pressing any panic buttons, just because we shipped three against United, especially with how we’ve been going.

“We just need to sharpen up a bit in the final third and start to create a bit more.”

Paul Cowie added extra experience

Tremarco, whose playing career concluded in County colors in 2021, is enjoying working under Cowie, who also recruited his brother Paul to the senior set-up as first-team coach.

That extra experienced figure, whose remit includes performance analysis, is a real asset to Tremarco.

He said: “When we initially took over (on an interim basis) last season, it was just me and the gaffer and we had (goalkeeping coach) Scott Thomson, so it was kind of all hands-on deck on the training pitch.

“Paul has come in and that released that little bit of a burden for me and for the manager in terms of matchdays, so you haven’t got to delegate every single person or go through everyone.

<span style="vertical-align: inherit"><span style="vertical-align: inherit">Don and Paul Cowie, alongside Carl Tremarco. Image: SNS.</span></span>

“We can do that individually, and as a team selectively, so it has been a lot of help in that sense.

“I’m learning all the time. I’ve been in the assistant manager’s role for less than six months, so I’m not going to get too carried away, I’m learning from the manager.

“I’m also learning from our chief executive, Steven Ferguson. He’s a knowledgeable man, why can’t I pick his brains? He’s been in the game so long.

“I’m just going to keep developing as much as I can, and keep giving my best self to the manager, and to this team, and the club.”

County return to the fold a week on Saturday when they host Stuart Kettlewell’s fifth-placed Motherwell before a trip to Celtic Park on November 30.

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