Captain Keith Watson says Ross County showed sign of growth in draw against Aberdeen
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Ross County club captain Keith Watson says the squad’s desire to finish higher up the league table helped fuel them in the 1-1 draw with Aberdeen on Tuesday night.
In years gone by, the Staggies were liable to crumbling when they conceded one goal, but this season has been different.
They have fought back to score late in games, and against the Dons they were the one equalising quickly after going behind. As far as Watson is concerned, that shows the strength County have – and he believes they are only getting better.
“We know ourselves that we can probably play a lot better than we showed, but one thing we did show was a lot of fight and a lot of spirit,” he said.
“We had to dig in after a difficult game at the weekend against Rangers, against a fresh Aberdeen, and we did.
“We’ve got a great group of boys here. Maybe at the start of the season we would have went and lost that game, but we’ve grown as a team.
“We fight for each other, we go into every tackle wanting to win it.
“There’s a hunger here, we really want to push up that league, and sometimes a point can be good at the end of the season, so we’ll just move onto the next one.”
The Dons draw marked the second game in a row that the Staggies have had to settle for a point at home, but with those matches being against Rangers and Aberdeen plenty in Dingwall may well have taken that beforehand.
Really, Watson is just keen to ensure there is no repeat of the late disappointment County suffered away at Dundee United.
“We obviously want to win our home games, and we went into the game wanting to get three points,” he said.
“We didn’t get that, but we dug in and showed a lot of fight.
“We went a goal down but we responded, and we defended with everything, putting our bodies on the line.
“We had set pieces at the end, and Harry Paton had a shot at the end as well, where we could have nicked it, but we need to make sure we stay in games as well.
“We should never lose games like the Dundee United one, so we maybe need to realise that with a few minutes to go we should shut up shop and take the point, and that’s what we did.”
On a personal note, Watson was pleased to complete his first 90 minutes since mid-December, adding: “I was a bit tired at the end to be fair, but I knew I had to dig in and do my best for the team.
“I put my body on the line at times, and it was just good to be back out there and getting 90 minutes.”
