Ross County manager Tony Docherty frustrated with ‘negligence’ in defence as Staggies lose out to Partick Thistle in Glasgow
Tony Docherty was left frustrated by what he called “negligence” as Ross County were beaten by Partick Thistle for the third time this season.
After a bright start for the Staggies at Firhill, it was the hosts who hit the only goal of the game through Oisin Smyth in the second half.
That result consigned County to slip back into the relegation play-off spot 10 matches into the campaign, and Docherty believes it was somewhat of their own doing after a pleasing first half in particular against the Jags.
“It was frustrating and disappointing, because we had a really strong first half performance,” he told The County Corner.
“It was everything I wanted it to be off the back of last week, and I think if we had gone in at half time 2-0 up we could have justified that.
“The second half didn’t flow the way we wanted it to in possession, they put more of a press on us, and when a game gets scrappy like that we should see it out.
“The one pivotal moment in the game, the one most influential moment, was the goal, and we need to do more to prevent that as a team.
“We need to be more streetwise and clinical in our defending, as we have shown in the past.
“Our first half performance should have seen us win the match, and the second half performance should have been enough not to lose the match.
“It was just such a preventable goal, and that was the biggest moment in the match. We need to take accountability and responsibility for that, and know that in these games you come out on the right side if you do the small details properly.
“That was something we were negligent in today.”
Partick’s goal stemmed from a counter attack, which County faced far more of last weekend than they have in previous weeks under Docherty.
That in itself was cause for concern, and Docherty admitted that his players were hurting after the match after losing in such a fashion.
“We have been good at keeping teams in their own box and putting them under pressure, but that didn’t happen today and it loses us the game,” Docherty continued.
“That’s fine margins that you have. We have two brilliant chances to win it, and they have one chance that isn’t even great.
“It was our responsibility, so we need to take it on the chin and stay together as a group.
“The dressing room is really hurting, as we all are, because we don’t think we deserved to lose that game against a team that’s decent and near the top of the league.
“We’re back at home against Dunfermline, and we won our last home game, so we need to take some positivity into that. Hopefully there will be an upturn in the crowd, and we just need to go again.”
One question mark going into that match against Dunfermline will be the fitness of midfielder Ross Docherty, after he was forced off in the 18th minute with a hamstring issue.
“We’re not taking a chance for him, because that was exactly what happened at Morton, so we need to get to the bottom of that,” Tony Docherty added.
“I don’t understand it, I’ve never seen that before. If he’s fit to play, he should be fit to play, but taking him off didn’t affect the performance.
“I thought Dean (Cornelius) was excellent doing a job on their deep-lying midfielder after coming on, and Jamie Lindsay dropped back and did just as good of a job – if not better – as Ross Docherty, so it was seamless.
“That’s pleasing. When your substitutes come on and know the gameplan, they can contribute to it, but we need to get to the bottom of it with Ross because we don’t want that happening every week.”