Ross County goalkeeper Laidlaw confident Staggies will gel in Dingwall – ‘It’s important that we stick together’
Ross Laidlaw is confident that Ross County will gel after a summer of turnover in Dingwall – and insists it is far too early to hit the panic button for their season’s prospects.
After a solid start in the League Cup group stage, the Staggies have gone five matches without a win, including a surprise 1-0 defeat to Spartans in the cup and a 6-0 hammering at the hands of Rangers.
An improved performance pushed Aberdeen all the way last weekend, but County still came away empty-handed thanks to Kevin Nisbet’s 98th minute strike.
That sent the side into an international break, giving all a chance to reflect on the opening weeks of the campaign and a summer transfer window where Don Cowie brought 12 players to the club.
Laidlaw, then, believes the squad is still in the process of gelling together, and says the quality available to County this season is not in question.
“Last season we had Jack Baldwin as captain, and we thought he was going to stay but he has left,” Laidlaw reasoned.
“You’re trying to replace players like that, and guys are trying to adjust to life here – Josh Nisbet has come in and flown over from Australia, and he’s going back now for an international break.
“For the guys who have never played in Scotland before, it takes time to understand the demands of these games, but that’s where guys like myself who have been here for a while have to help them through it.
“We have signed good players, we see that in training every day, so hopefully we can gel quickly and take that quality into these games.
“It’s not a disaster of a start. It has been blown out of proportion because of the result against Rangers.
“We were unlucky not to beat Dundee United, we missed a penalty and the game swung on that. We were unlucky not to get a point against Aberdeen, so we’re not far away outside of the performances against Rangers and Spartans.
“We’ve got a big squad, which is good because we’re going to need bodies. I know it’s frustrating for the boys who aren’t playing right now but they will get their opportunity.
“It’s important that we stick together, and we know that we can’t feel sorry for ourselves.”
That idea of not letting morale drop was an important factor going into last weekend’s defeat to Aberdeen.
Coming off the back of a one-sided loss at Hampden Park the week before, Laidlaw says there was plenty of motivation in the home dressing room in Dingwall to show that they are better than the display against Rangers.
In a game full of controversy, where VAR was needed to correct refereeing decisions on three separate occasions, Laidlaw feels the Staggies did that even if the end result did not go their way.
“It was a real sickener (to concede so late), but I think we put in a good performance,” the goalkeeper said of the performance against Aberdeen.
“We let ourselves down against Rangers, we know we did, and we let the manager down.
“That wasn’t like us. Since the gaffer came in we haven’t really had any performances like that, so we were obviously disappointed.
“It was important that we responded and put on a good showing for the fans, and we didn’t get the result we wanted but the performance was definitely there.
“We went back to three in defence, and I think it suited us. I don’t think Aberdeen had that many chances, we just switched off late on.
“It’s one of those things, if it ended 0-0 it would have been a good point for us, but it wasn’t to be.”
