Ross County manager Malky Mackay was proud of his players as they gave Rangers a run for their money in Sunday’s Dingwall showdown.
The Ibrox side were swift and slick early on in the Premiership clash and deservedly led courtesy of goals from Joe Aribo and Connor Goldson.
A reply from on-loan Arsenal defender Harry Clarke on his debut pulled it back to 2-1 before the break before Alfredo Morelos added a third early in the second half.
Jordan White’s penalty made it 3-2 as the Staggies kept the heat on Steven Gerrard’s side, but substitute Scott Arfield took the game finally out of the hosts’ reach to secure a 4-2 win.
Speaking after seeing his players push the champions all the way, the Staggies manager said: “We were always in the game. For us to nick the goal before half-time brought us right into it the right time.
“I was disappointed with the third goal – that was poor from us to allow them to extend the gap again, but I thought we persisted to make sure we played in areas where we could try and expose Rangers and we did that and managed to pull it back to 3-2 before we lost the fourth.
“Over 90 minutes, we were in the game, which is something I can only be proud of. We were playing the best team in the country, who have got a fantastic squad of players.
“Aribo’s goal was terrific, but the others were cheap goals as far as I was concerned and that’s no disrespect to Rangers.”
Brave response from the Staggies
County have never beaten the Ibrox club and had not bagged a goal against them in half a dozen outings.
That changed and they had opportunities to score more than that. The boss praised their bravery for keeping Scotland’s champions on their toes.
Mackay added: “I didn’t know we hadn’t scored against them in six games, but we scored two and had two or three other half chances.
“I asked them to be brave on the ball and we were in the second half especially when we stepped out in the wide channels and caused them problems.
“It’s a new group which is coming together and we still have lots of gelling to do. We are putting in debuts every week at the moment and we have two or three 17-year-olds kicking around the squad.
“We won’t be judged about how we do against the champions. We have got our own mini-league of teams that we will be up against. If we play like that, we’ll do okay.”
Mackay backs County to bank points
County, who are facing last year’s top five in their first five fixtures, look to build upon their point on matchday four next Sunday when they go to Aberdeen.
Despite the tough run continuing, Mackay remains hopeful of points to come.
He added: “We have already played St Johnstone here and acquitted ourselves very well and in the second half away to Hibs was good. We have Aberdeen, Celtic then Hearts to come but after that we have a long season against teams that are round about us.”
