Ross County defender Jack Baldwin is keen to use his experience to help his younger team-mates be at their most effective.
At 28, Englishman Baldwin is among the senior campaigners in the Staggies’ side, having regularly been handed the captain’s armband by Malky Mackay this term.
Mackay freshened up his side in an extensive summer rebuild, which saw 12 new faces arrive at Dingwall.
Although County have ended 2021 in 10th place in the Premiership, the Staggies remain the fourth highest scorers in the division.
Baldwin is keen to take responsibility for the gritty parts of the game, in order to free up the flair players higher up the field.
He said: “We have got a young and talented squad with a sprinkling of experience. The biggest thing for me is that we need the more experienced players in the group to recognise when a game is going a certain way.
“We need to do that gritty side first before we show the talent that we have got.
“As defenders we need to make sure we are doing the defending before we get on the ball and play football.
“It is great to be recognised as a team with talent but it means nothing if we start as we did against Hearts.
“If we can be hard to beat first and foremost and then let the football come that would put us in a better place.”
County ended the year with a 2-1 defeat to Hearts at Tynecastle, with a late fightback not enough to secure a point in the capital.
Baldwin felt the Staggies gave themselves too much to do following a slow start, which saw them fall behind after just five minutes.
He added: “Based on the second-half I thought we deserved something but we can’t start games the way we did and expect to get something. It was a slow start and we are frustrated by that because it was an uphill battle from then.
“We have shown that we can play against the bigger sides in the division and compete and do well.
“We were frustrated at half-time and took that out in the second half and created a few decent chances that might have gone in on a different day. Ultimately, though, we can’t start the way we did.”
Baldwin encouraged ahead of fresh start in 2022
Having lost only three of their last 10 matches, Baldwin feels the Staggies are well set up for their return from the winter break at home to Motherwell on January 18.
He added: “We felt like we could get something from the Hearts game so we are going into the break a bit frustrated.
“In the bigger picture after a slow start to the season, given the recent form we have been in we can take positives into the break.
“It gives us a chance to get a rest and a mental break and come back fresh and ready to come back to kick on. We know where we can improve, where we have to improve.
“The team has been on a great run and there are games I think where we feel we could have picked up all three points rather than drawing games.
“We will definitely be ready to kick on when we return.”
