Don Cowie is thrilled Ross County have the youngest squad in the Premiership – but insists every player must earn their place in the side, regardless of age.
After the transfer window closed, the average age of the Staggies players checked in at 25.8, just below leaders Celtic (26) and Livingston (26.4). Aberdeen are at the other end of the scale with an average age 28.5 years old.
Assistant boss Cowie came through the ranks at Victoria Park and, after a career which took him all the way to the Scotland national side and clubs Inverness, Watford, Cardiff, Wigan, Hearts and back to County, he is now a first-team coach with the Dingwall outfit.
Last summer, when his former manager at Cardiff and Watford, Malky Mackay, took over at County, he was handed the number two role at his local club – the third time he’d been signed by him in effect.
Senior stars can help youngsters
Cowie, discussing the low age factor at the club, insists the senior players must remain key to future development.
He said: “It works both ways – with younger players, the consistency might not be there sometimes, but they’ve put that to bed.
“It’s great to have a young team. That’s no disrespect to older players – I was one of them in previous seasons who was coming to the end of my career, and there is a place for experienced players in what they bring to the group.
“The experienced players that we’ve got here really run the club and the dressing room for us.
“They set a standard every day, so you need to have a balance, but it is great that we’ve got so many young players representing the club right now.”
Academy working well at Dingwall
The Ross County academy is working well, with Matthew Wright, 19, and Adam Mackinnon, 18, the latest young guns breaking into the first team.
Cowie added: “We’re not going to play them just because of their age, they’re playing because they’re ready to play.
“It was obviously great to see young Matthew (Wright) scoring a couple of weeks ago (against Rangers), which shows the great work that’s going on in the academy.
“We need to keep pushing with that, because it’s a massive part of this club and its history, and we need to really focus on that and keep driving to get players coming through the academy.
“At the same time, it’s up to the players as well to show that desire and that professionalism to get to that stage.
“We’re very fortunate that we’ve got a group of four or five right now who get to train with the first-team, and have done for the last 18 months.
“You can see how they’re progressing because of that, and that has resulted in Adam (MacKinnon) being on the bench the last few weeks, and Matthew getting on the pitch over the last few games.”
Aim is to improve goals against tally
County, meanwhile, return to Premiership action on Saturday, seeking to build on their four-game unbeaten run when they go to Hibs.
The Dingwall team are the third-top scorers in the league, with their 38 goals only beaten by Celtic and Rangers.
However, they have also leaked the most goals in the division – 44 in 26 outings.
Cowie insists it’s not only down to the goalkeeper and back line to stop opponents.
He added: “One thing that we try to enforce is that we defend as a team. You see a team that is playing for each other and working as hard as possible to do that.
“That’s no slight on the defence or the goalkeeper that we would like to be a bit tighter in terms of the goals we concede.
“The flip side is that, if we do concede, we’ve shown that we can come back.
“Historically that’s probably not something we’ve been renowned for, but there’s this confidence in this group that – even when they concede – they will keep going and stay in the game.
“We will create chances, and it’s about taking them – and we’re taking them right now.”
