Don Cowie believes early goal would be crucial for Ross County ahead of visit of Celtic to Dingwall this Sunday
Ross County manager Don Cowie says it is crucial his side start well when defending Premiership champions Celtic visit Dingwall on Sunday.
The Staggies have a strong home record, only losing two of their 15 matches in the Highlands across all competitions in a run that includes a 3-2 victory over Rangers in April.
Celtic, though, will provide the toughest test of them all, even after Brendan Rodgers’ side lost 7-1 to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday evening.
Coming off the back of such a defeat, many will expect Celtic to be looking for redemption against County this weekend.
Cowie, then, knows that a positive start will be imperative to any potential result for the Staggies.
“I just think the way Brendan is, and managing a club like Celtic, you can never feel sorry for yourself,” Cowie explained.
“Every game is scrutinised, and I’m sure that they will have been aware that no matter what the result was on Tuesday coming up to us on Sunday is just as important.
“That’s what makes them so good, they are relentless. They go from playing in front of 80,000 on Tuesday to playing in front of 6000 on Sunday, but you have to have that mentality to play for Celtic.
“You always try and give yourself a base to work from, and that’s being solid and secure and not giving anything away for free.
“Then you have the possibility of getting that goal, which gives you energy and something to hang on to against a top quality team.
“There’s also always the possibility that it brings a bit of anxiety to the crowd. We know they travel in big numbers, and they are vocal as a fan base, so it’s important we start well.”
Matches against Rangers and St Johnstone aside, County have looked solid defensively this season.
Even when results have not gone their way, it has generally only been a single goal the Staggies have conceded – and on multiple occasions it has come very late in the day, like the 96th minute equaliser they conceded away at Hearts last time out.
Cowie looks at the performance at Tynecastle as something to build on ahead of Celtic, with similar characteristics going to be required to keep the Glasgow giants at bay.
“We spoke about it as a group going into these two games – Hearts and Celtic are very similar in terms of the way the opposition plays.
“We’re going to have to defend well, concentrate and defend deep at times.
“There is obviously a slight variable in the quality of the individuals in their two teams, but their framework is very similar.
“It was a good test for us on Saturday, and I thought for 95 minutes we did extremely well to defend our goal and be really brave to get first contacts.
“It is going to be the same again this week, because Celtic pose questions of you time and time again, and you have to stand up to that.
“It’s a real challenge, because you go into it thinking about them as an opposition and the abundance of quality they have.
“Normally you would think about wide players being really good and dealing with two players, but the way Celtic play their full backs have freedom to join in with attacks which means there are so many elements to be aware of.
“It will take a real collective performance, first on the training pitch, and then we have to execute it during the match on Sunday.”
