Ross County manager Stuart Kettlewell hopes his side’s clean sheet against Celtic at Parkhead can inject much-needed confidence into his defenders for their league clash with Rangers.
The Staggies had drawn criticism following a number of softly conceded goals in recent weeks, with the issue magnified in their last Premiership outing when they went down 3-1 to a Kilmarnock side which played the majority of the game with 10 men.
During the Rugby Park defeat, County also conceded an eighth penalty from 15 league matches.
Kettlewell was thrilled with the way his side reacted against Celtic, however, keeping out some of the best attackers in the country to triumph 2-0 in the Betfred Cup on Sunday. Ross County boss Kettlewell hopes the defensive display will provide his side with a boost ahead of Sunday’s visit of Premiership leaders Rangers to Dingwall.
He said: “Defending is something we have been critical of ourselves about and something that gets brought up most weeks. The entire team takes huge credit, but in particular those defenders who have had criticism after making silly mistakes in giving away penalties or soft goals – they did a manful job of defending that final third on Sunday.
“They will need to perform like that against Rangers this weekend, but after last week we have a spring in our step.
“Questions were asked of us, but we asked difficult questions of ourselves as well – and the players answered them.
“We didn’t need pats on the back for it because in-house we knew the jobs we did well and how defending like that can help kick us on this season. We have to channel it into the coming games now.”
Kettlewell had been vocal in his own criticism of players following the loss to Killie, but he feels his players answered the doubters in style.
He added: “We felt we all had to right some wrongs from the Kilmarnock game. The biggest thing for me is you saw how desperate everyone is to do well.
“The fashion we defended our penalty box was particularly pleasing. It has to do masses for these guys’ confidence. We have to be comfortable defending the box and having our backs to the wall at times.
“We can’t expect to dominate the ball every game, so we have to deal with the other side and last Sunday was exactly what I wanted to see. I think we needed that type of performance and that type of result. It makes your life easier when they know they can do that.”
Ross County boss Kettlewell has a number of selection concerns for the Rangers game, with Stephen Kelly ineligible against his parent club, while Charlie Lakin (thigh) and Josh Reid (groin) were withdrawn at Parkhead. Kettlewell confirmed Oli Shaw, Ross Draper, Tom Grivosti, Regan Charles-Cook and Carl Tremarco are all likely to be sidelined.
