Callachan – Ross County will never say quit
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Ross Callachan has insisted Ross County will always keep fighting to the final whistle to give themselves every chance of getting a result.
Recent performances have been notable for the mental resilience that the Staggies have shown.
Against Dundee United, despite having more of the possession and edging the battle for both shots and shots on target, County found themselves trailing going into stoppage time.
Then, Joe Hungbo’s free kick was prodded over the line by Jack Baldwin in the final seconds to make sure the Dingwall earned something for their efforts on home turf, even with 10 men.
Last weekend, too, County had to come from behind against a side from the city of discovery.
Twice in the first half against Dundee, Luke McCowan put James McPake’s men ahead, with his goals coming either side of a Dominic Samuel equaliser – the striker’s first goal since moving to the Highlands in the summer.
After half time, County set about staging a comeback one more time.
Yes, there was an element of luck around Danny Mullen’s own goal that levelled the scores for a second time, but there was nothing fortunate about Regan Charles-Cook’s winner as County would surely have had a penalty had he not found the back of the net with 12 minutes left.
That never say die attitude is not something Staggies fans could always have claimed was a feature of their side since returning to the top flight in 2019, but Callachan says they cannot afford to be any other way.
“I think it’s massive – if we just gave up, we would have got beaten last Saturday,” the former Hamilton man said.
“We never gave up, we were in the game. We came out and had a go in the second half, and won the game.
“No matter what the score is, you should play the same way – stick to the gameplan and go about it that way.
“You can never give up in football, because it’s a crazy game. Every week you see mad results popping up everywhere, anything can happen in football.”
Mental strength could well come to the fore again in future games, with County in the middle of a hectic run of games before the winter break.
The Staggies will play five more matches before getting a two-week rest period to recover, and Callachan added: “It is a really busy schedule, and we’ve just got to keep doing things right.
“We need to keep recovering and hopefully keep everyone fit. It showed last Saturday, the boys that came on from the bench helped us win the game, so we are going to need everyone.”
