Defender Paul Quinn was superb in Ross County’s goalless draw against Celtic at Parkhead on Saturday, but hopes his next match against the champions is not his last for the Staggies.
The 29-year-old former Motherwell defender, playing alongside Scott Boyd, excelled from start to finish to contain the threat of Celtic’s attacking duo of John Guidetti and Leigh Griffiths.
Not many teams will avoid defeat at Parkhead this season but the result still left Jim McIntyre’s men bottom of the table after St Mirren moved above them with a 3-1 win against Dundee.
McIntyre is determined to retain Quinn for the Scottish Premiership survival scrap which lies ahead of the Staggies in the second half of the season.
Quinn, who signed for County after spells with Cardiff City and Doncaster Rovers, said: “My contract is up on January 24 after we play Celtic again.
“I must be the only player to sign a 12-week contract and play Celtic three times.
“I am talking to the club and I am enjoying my time here.
“The performances have been improving. We had been losing goals and ending up chasing games.
“Even one of the referees commented to me about it – he said we need to stop losing early goals. It was that obvious.
“But since the Celtic game in October when we lost 5-0, there has not been one team that has been miles ahead of us.
“We have come a long way since then, especially in terms of organisation.”
Quinn made debut for County in that 5-0 defeat at Victoria Park and believes Saturday’s gritty performance shows how far the club has come in a short space of time under new manager McIntyre, who replaced Derek Adams at the start of the season.
He added: “We were disjointed the last time we faced Celtic and we gave their good players too much space to play.
“This time we condensed the play and had them where we wanted.
“As the game wore on, we defended well and our game plan started to click into place.
“It is good as a defender to come here and get a clean sheet – no matter how ugly it looks.
“A lot of people would have put this game down as another 5-0 win for Celtic but it is a great base for us to kick on from.”