Ross County goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw says Staggies will need more strong support from fans as they look to secure Premiership safety against Aberdeen in Dingwall
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Ross Laidlaw is hoping Ross County fans turn out in their numbers once again to help players rise to the occasion of finally securing Premiership football next season.
The Staggies were minutes away from avoiding a relegation play-off on Wednesday evening, leading 1-0 at St Johnstone going into the final stages thanks to Yan Dhanda’s first-half strike.
However, a 90th minute header from Adama Sidibeh denied County victory, keeping the gap between the two sides at two points going into the last round of matches this season.
With Aberdeen coming to Dingwall, only a win for County will guarantee more top-flight football next season, and Laidlaw is hoping that a capacity crowd will be able to inspire the side to more home success.
“We’re going to need the fans behind us on Sunday, and hopefully we get the result to keep us up,” Laidlaw said.
“There are probably going to be some nervy moments, so we’ll need the fans to stay behind us.
“I thought they were great on Wednesday, the boys were all speaking after the game about the great support.
“We’re just gutted we couldn’t see the win out for them, but we’ll need them again on Sunday to make it noisy and get right behind us.
“Hopefully it’s going to be a sell-out – and Aberdeen always bring a good support with noisy fans.
“It’s exciting. Obviously we would rather have done the job on Wednesday, but these are the moments that you want to play in when you’re a youngster.
“The play-off games last year were huge for us, so we’re all looking to get ourselves going and get a positive result at home. Hopefully we can do enough, but we know that results elsewhere will influence that.
“We just need to concentrate on ourselves, because if we win we’re safe. That’s what the manager has drilled into us, so that’s what we’re looking to do.”
County are yet to defeat Aberdeen across four meetings this season, but Laidlaw believes the Staggies’ task is made simpler by knowing that anything less than a win may not be enough to avoid a play-off if St Johnstone win at Motherwell.
“Aberdeen have done really well under Peter Leven, their results have picked up, so we know it’s going to be a difficult game,” he explained.
“They have top quality players and they’re a huge club. It didn’t work out for them earlier in the season, but now they’re on a good run, so we know it’s going to be a difficult game.
“We’ve had good results against high-quality opposition though, beating Hearts, Hibs and Rangers, and being at home is a big thing for us.
“Sometimes it can be difficult if you just need a point, because you don’t know how much to attack.
“Having to win, you know what you have to do going in. You try to win every game, but if a point was enough you might be a bit more defensive.
“We need to try and take the game to Aberdeen – within reason, because they have good attacking players. It should be a good one.”
While the manner of Wednesday’s draw was disappointing for County, it was arguably a better point for them than hosts St Johnstone.
The Perth outfit must now go to Fir Park and win on Sunday to have any chance of avoiding the play-off, while in theory County could lose to Aberdeen and still be safe.
“Obviously we wanted to win and guarantee safety, but it’s still all to play for on Sunday,” Laidlaw added.
“There’s no point in feeling sorry for ourselves. We put in a strong performance on Wednesday and there are plenty of positives to take, so we have to go again on Sunday.
“We need to stick together as a group. I would rather be in our position that St Johnstone’s – they’re away from home, we’re at home, and we know that we’re safe if we beat Aberdeen.
“For them, they probably had to win. For us, we might have taken a point before the game, but being 1-0 up away from home we felt on the pitch that we could see it out.
“It was just one moment where we switched off, the cross goes into the box a bit too easily from the throw-in and it’s a great header. It’s just one of those, we need to move on.”
