Ross County captain Vigurs does not expect will to win to be affected in unusual circumstances
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
New Ross County captain Iain Vigurs does not think the strange circumstances surrounding the start of the Premiership season should affect the players’ will to win during matches.
The Staggies will kick off the season on Monday, August 3 at home to Motherwell, but no fans will be allowed in attendance at the Global Energy Stadium.
It has been a pre-season unlike any other too, with players at first segregated into small groups before contact training was allowed, and a distinct lack of game time for the players approaching the competitive start.
Usually, County would have played a couple of games against Highland League opposition, gone abroad for a training camp and had the Betfred Cup group stage before the league restarted.
This year, they have had to settle for intra-squad bounce games and a single friendly against Aberdeen so far.
“It’s hard to say how different things will be when we haven’t experienced it yet,” the 32-year-old midfielder said.
“Obviously, it’s going to be different with no fans, but once you cross that white line it doesn’t matter if you’ve got fans, no fans, five subs or no subs – each and every one of us will want to win that game.
“That’s what we’re striving for, and that’s what we’re leading up to right now in pre-season. It’s going to be tough, but at the end of the day it’s a game of football, 11 against 11, and we want to win.
“Even with a normal pre-season you don’t really know if you’re ready until you get those first competitive games out of the way. Until then, all we can do is prepare for it as best we can.
“Once that first game comes against Motherwell, we’ll soon see.”
Vigurs has been given the captain’s armband after the departure of former skipper Marcus Fraser, with Callum Morris taking over as vice-captain.
The experienced playmaker has made over 200 appearances in all competitions for County over two spells spanning a total of six years and counting.
In that time, he has been part of two separate promotion-winning squads, and he wants to bring more success to the club as captain.
“I definitely want to be in a team that is not only showing stability in the Premiership, but competing in the Premiership,” Vigurs added.
“That’s definitely one thing I want to achieve, and it would be nice to get some good cup runs.”
Read the full edition of today's Ross-shire Journal here.
