Quick turnaround ideal for Ross County defender Harry Clarke after defeat to Celtic
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Harry Clarke and the rest of the Ross County squad were left ‘heartbroken’ by Celtic’s late winner in Dingwall on Wednesday night.
Although the Glasgow giants were the better side in the first half, the second was extremely entertaining as the Staggies came back into it, going toe-to-toe with Ange Postecoglou’s side and getting back on level terms.
Then, in the seventh minute of added time, Anthony Ralston headed in at the back post to score a dramatic winner for Celtic.
It would be tough to argue that County were not deserving of at least a point in the match, so it may be tough for the players to pick themselves back up ahead of a trip to Livingston tomorrow – but Clarke says the need to move on quickly will be a good thing.
“We did well, it was just that last kick of the game we switched off,” Clarke said.
“We’ve got a game on Saturday now, we’ve got Livingston away, so we’ll go into recovery now.
“We’ll look at this game in the morning, but that will only be for 10 or 15 minutes – we’ve got to get on with it and try and get three points at Livingston.
“Another game on Saturday is the best thing for us.
“We don’t need too long to dwell on things, we don’t want it to be sitting on our minds until next Wednesday or next Saturday, so it’s good that we’ve got Livingston so quickly.”
Such was the circumstances of County’s midweek defeat, it was tough for Clarke to fully take in after the full-time whistle.
“I’m still trying to put it into words to be honest,” he admitted.
“The gaffer asked us to go out there for the second half and show a bit of courage, and I thought we did that.
“It was literally the last kick of the game we lost it with, but I thought the boys dug in well for the second half, we pressed them and when they went down to 10 men we didn’t take the foot off the gas.
“It’s heartbreaking to be honest.”
Despite leaving empty-handed, there are plenty of positives County can take from their performance.
Earlier in the season they had matched Celtic for 70 minutes, only to crumble after going behind, but this time they kept battling on and competed with one of the top teams in the division.
At the very least, the last-gasp 2–1 defeat shows that progress has been made in Dingwall since the 3–0 loss the Staggies suffered in Glasgow, and other results early in the campaign.
“It shows the route that we’re going,” Clarke added.
“We were in it at Celtic Park for 70 minutes. We were good, but it goes to show that we’re putting these teams under pressure.
“You saw by the way they celebrated here that even their fans were relieved to go away with three points.
“We didn’t start the season very well, we weren’t getting results, but we’ve been on a good run and that showed. We went until the very last second. I’m still in a bit of shock, but it does show our progression and hopefully we can carry it on.”
