Young stars are deserving of places in Ross County squad, says assistant manager Don Cowie
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Ross County assistant manager Don Cowie insists the Staggies’ young players are part of the squad on merit.
On average, County have the youngest squad in the Scottish Premiership with an average age of 25.8.
Celtic, Livingston, Hibernian and Motherwell are the other sides with an average age under 27, while Aberdeen have the oldest squad in the division at 28.5 – only just older on average than Rangers and Dundee.
Staggies boss Malky Mackay has a background in youth development from his time as performance director at the Scottish FA, but Cowie – an academy graduate in Dingwall himself – says it has not been youth for the sake of youth this season, with every player in the squad earning their spot.
“There is some extra pride, but they have to merit their place,” he stressed.
“We’re not playing them just because of their age, they’re playing because they’re ready.
“It was obviously great to see Matthew Wright scoring a couple of weeks ago, which shows the great work that’s going on in the academy.
“We need to keep pushing with that, because it’s a massive part of this club and its history, and we need to really focus on that and keep driving to get players coming through the academy.
“At the same time, it’s up to the players as well to show that desire and that professionalism to get to that stage.
“We’re very fortunate that we’ve got a group of four or five right now who get to train with the first team, and have done for the last 18 months.
“You can see how they’re progressing because of that, and that has resulted in Adam MacKinnon being on the bench the last few weeks, and Matthew getting on the pitch over the last few games.”
At the other end of the spectrum, Cowie knows what it is like to be the most experienced head in the dressing room – and he says County’s current veterans are playing a crucial role at the club.
“The experienced players that we’ve got here really run the club and the dressing room for us.
“They set a standard every day, so you need to have a balance, but it is great that we’ve got so many young players representing the club.”
