Ross Laidlaw thanked the Ross County management team for keeping faith in him as he bailed out his team for a vital Premiership point.
After his mistake against St Mirren, in which he spilled Tony Andreu’s shot into the net, it would have been easy for Stuart Kettlewell and Steven Ferguson to turn to Jack Ruddy. However, they stuck with Laidlaw and his performance against Kilmarnock, earning the Staggies a dogged point, justified that belief.
He said: “I wanted to bounce back from that (St Mirren) straight away. I’ve had two good performances after that and shown a bit of character – it’s not easy being a goalkeeper as it gets highlighted when you do make mistakes. I knuckled down in training and thanks to the goalie coach (Scott Thomson) and the management team for sticking by me after that mistake. I’ve been able to show what I can do.
“I’m grateful for Ross County for coming in and giving me the opportunity to play week in, week out. At Hibs it was frustrating as I was the number two there and then dropped out after a bad injury. I wanted to pick the right team in the summer where I knew there was a chance of playing. I’ve been given the chance by Ross County and I’m loving every minute of it.”
Laidlaw, left, has nailed down the number one jersey after his summer move from Hibernian. County brought in Nathan Baxter in the summer on loan from Chelsea but after he suffered a dislocated shoulder, they added Scot Jack Ruddy upon his release from Wolves.
The pedigree of the other two goalkeepers means Laidlaw will constantly be on his toes but he feels he has grabbed the opportunity to be a number one in his own right.
Laidlaw added: “I’ve done my time sitting on the bench, waiting for my chance. Maybe doing well in training and not getting a chance (on a Saturday). I’ve got the number one jersey and started off the season, so I want to keep myself in the team.
“You need competition, so that if I know I’m not playing well people can step in.”
The 27-year-old kept out Osman Sow’s penalty on Saturday, benefiting from goalkeeping coach Scott Thomson’s homework into Killie’s spot-kick takers.
He said: “The goalie coach always has wee cards before the game for where every penalty taker is likely to go. (Eamonn) Brophy was meant to be playing but Sow came in and the last two, he’d been to my left. I went that way and thankfully that’s where he hit it.”
