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Ross County midfielder Blair Spittal believes Staggies can hang with anyone in Premiership after seeing off Hibernian


By Alasdair Fraser

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Blair Spittal believes Wednesday night’s crucial victory over Hibernian proved Ross County have nothing to fear in the Premiership.

The midweek match winner took great satisfaction in seeing off the only side that had previously torn the Staggies’ defence to pieces in an uncomfortable first 45 minutes at Easter Road.

While positive results proved hard to come by in the first 10 matches, the feeling within the County camp was that mistakes and small lapses in concentration were behind the winless run.

In Edinburgh back in early August, it had been a very different story.

County’s Blair Spittal at Celtic Park – the midfielder feels his team can live with the best in the country. Picture: Ken Macpherson
County’s Blair Spittal at Celtic Park – the midfielder feels his team can live with the best in the country. Picture: Ken Macpherson

With the Dingwall side now braced for a challenging nine games in just over a month after their first home win, midfielder Spittal exuded confidence ahead of the visit of Dundee United tomorrow.

“To beat the one team that really took us to the cleaners back in August gives us a lot of confidence,” the 25-year-old said.

“In most of the games so far this season, it has been big moments in small periods of games that have killed us.

“The Hibs game at Easter Road was probably the one game where we look back and think we didn’t do ourselves justice. Hibs in the first half that day blew us away.

“We’ve seen since that we can hurt teams, whoever we face, so that gives us a lot of confidence going forward into what will be a very busy spell through to January.”

Spittal will rarely net a stranger goal than the one that killed off Hibs on Wednesday. His attempted cross bobbled low and unconvincingly into the crowded away penalty area before deceiving goalkeeper Matt Macey.

Both Alex Iacovitti and Jordan White briefly looked keen to claim a touch, but there was no question that the decisive strike came from the boot of substitute Spittal.

While the moment was fortuitous, County earned their luck through hard endeavour.

“It was a big win after a couple of weeks without a game, it was important we got a busy run of matches off to a good start,” Spittal said.

“In the first half, we never got the ball down often enough or made enough passes, but that changed after the break.

“We probably should have scored a few more goals, but the win is what matters.

“It was a bizarre goal, no question about it. To be fair to big Alex Iacovitti, he was excellent for it.

“He swung a leg at it and that caused a bit of confusion.”

Dundee United inflicted a 1-0 defeat on County in early October at Tannadice in what was almost a case study in the visitors’ early season failings.

The Staggies created countless chances but paid for one mistake.

“We have a chance to build a bit of momentum for ourselves and we’re looking for a similar performance, with plenty of grit, against Dundee United – it will be tough again, but we’re confident,” Spittal added.


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