A contrast in fortunes between two clubs on different trajectories saw Celtic visit bitingly cold Dingwall.
A lot has been said recently of Ross County’s run without winning but there are plenty clubs struggling for points in the bottom half of the table. Sunday’s match wasn’t going to define the Staggies’ season but I was looking for a much more competitive performance than shown against the Old Firm so far this season.
They would have to do so without club captain Marcus Fraser, who had only missed one league match in the last 13 months but was rotated out of the first XI. It seemed tactical, with County using Richard Foster as a wing-back in a 5-4-1 set-up.
The strategy seemed fine in theory, with Foster and fellow wing-back Sean Kelly having three more defenders behind them to allow the licence to push high up the pitch and put pressure on Celtic’s full-backs when the visitors tried to build up play from the back. It played a part in Celtic not being at their fluent best for large spells and County went into the break with some sort of foothold on the game at the very least. Ross Stewart took his headed goal well and will be disappointed to have what looked like a another legitimate goal chalked off.
Celtic moved up a gear in the second half to put the match to bed. It wasn’t an embarrassing performance but the number of goals conceded needs addressed.