Pick your County XI for visit of Dundeepublished at 17:07 13 December 2023
17:07 13 December 2023
Ross County welcome Dundee to Dingwall on Saturday and Derek Adams will be wanting to put things right after their loss against St Mirren last weekend.
Put yourself in the manager's shoes and tell us your starting XI here.
Ross County fans travelled down the A9 on Saturday optimistic they’d see their side pick up their first win in Paisley since April 2015.
Ahead of the St Mirren game, The Staggies looked like a side who would be full of confidence having picked up seven points from a possible nine since Derek Adams returned to the club, coming off the back of a dominant 3-0 win against Motherwell where they created numerous chances going forward and looked solid defensively.
Fans of both sides didn’t have to cast their minds back too far for the last match between the two, where Jordan White’s late winner handed County victory at the end of November.
Same again on Saturday, right? Unfortunately not.
St Mirren looked like a completely different team to the one which struggled to compete in Dingwall. They pressed County at every opportunity and limited the supply to key players Yan Dhanda and Simon Murray, while creating several chances at the other end.
Going into the second half, there was hope that County weathered the St Mirren storm and could grow into the match. Those hopes evaporated after an unfortunate Ryan Leak own goal and a quickfire second from Jonah Ayunga gave the hosts a 2-0 lead, leaving County with a mountain to climb.
It was the first time Adams has seen his side go behind since his return to the club. It allowed the manager to see how his players would respond when they find themselves trailing to tough opposition at a difficult venue.
Would they go into their shell? Would they stand up for the fight? Would they stay calm and keep trying to do the right things on the ball?
The response after going two goals down was positive overall. The players didn’t let their heads drop and they kept trying to play through the lines and move the ball into dangerous positions.
As the second half wore on, James Brown and George Harmon were playing more as wingers rather than wing-backs as County tried to work the ball wide and cause the home side problems late on with the deliveries into the box.
Alex Samuel forced a fantastic save from Zach Hemming, but apart from that, it was one of those days where the final ball wasn’t up to scratch in the moments that mattered.
Adams hopeful of swift Smith return - gossippublished at 10:16 12 December 2023
10:16 12 December 2023
Ross County manager Derek Adams is hopeful defender Dylan Smith will make a prompt return after coming off injured in Saturday's defeat to St Mirren. (Press & Journal)
Click here to read Tuesday's Scottish football gossip in full.
Smith injury 'caused us a problem' - Adamspublished at 11:43 11 December 2023
11:43 11 December 2023
Derek Adams has revealed Dylan Smith will not face long in the physio room after picking up an ankle injury against St Mirren.
County conceded the opening goal of the game immediately after Smith was brought off, and Adams admits losing the 17-year-old defender caused them issues.
“Dylan went over his ankle which caused us a problem," Adams said.
“I changed the shape to a four at the back but quite quickly after that I changed it back as it looked as if they were going to cause us trouble.
“I don’t think it’s that bad, he has just gone over it. It happened and we couldn’t do anything about it – we needed to get a player on. They were able to get that advantage.
“He’s 17 years old, and he’s been given an opportunity. He has played a lot of games at this level for a young boy, but it doesn’t matter what age you are – 17 or 37 – you have got to perform. He was given that opportunity and I thought he did well in the game.”
Hit 'Follow' at the top of this page, and if you are using the BBC Sport app, tap the bell icon to get Ross County news, analysis and more sent directly to you
Highlights: St Mirren 2-0 Ross Countypublished at 18:03 10 December 2023
18:03 10 December 2023
St Mirren 2-0 Ross County: Key statspublished at 11:57 10 December 2023
11:57 10 December 2023
Ross County have failed to score in eight of their 16 games, only Livingston (nine) have failed to score more often in the Scottish Premiership this season.
Simon Murray attempted four shots in this game, the joint-highest total for a Ross County player in the Scottish Premiership this season.