Ben Purrington is relishing the opportunity to rekindle his relationship with Derek Adams at Ross County.
Defender Purrington has been part of a Staggies side which has made an excellent start since Adams replaced Malky Mackay last month, having taken seven points from the last three matches without conceding.
Working under Adams is nothing new for Purrington, who came through the youth ranks with Plymouth Argyle.
After Adams was appointed manager of the Devon club in 2015, Purrington remained at Home Park for a further 18 months before earning a move to Championship outfit Rotherham United for a reported £300,000 fee.
Purrington has fond memories of their time together, and is excited by the opportunity to link up with Adams again at Victoria Park.
He said: “I worked under Derek six or seven years ago at Plymouth.
“I had a good year with him, and then another six months – and then he sold me.
“It was good for the club and good for me though, as I moved up to the Championship.
“We were top of the league at the time and the team was flying.
“I was playing under him and had a good relationship with him at Plymouth. He’s a manager I liked playing under. I have a lot of respect for him.
“He’s bringing that here now and you can see how well we have done in the last three games. Hopefully we can keep that going now, and try to climb that table.”
Purrington feels he still has all to prove to Adams
Despite already being familiar to Adams, Englishman Purrington insists he is not taking his selection in the Staggies’ side for granted.
He added: “You never want to see managers go, football is a horrible business.
“When you know someone, and you’ve had a relationship with them before, it probably is a bit of a benefit as they know what you can do.
“I obviously still have to prove myself. We have got three good left backs at the club, with Josh Reid and George Harmon as well.
“It’s tough competition. The lads were asking what he was like, because you never know. When a new manager comes in they can either be one end of the spectrum or the other.
“I told them what he’s about, and we can’t complain with the results.
“It’s probably what happens when you get a new manager, you get that bounce.
“You get a lot of players trying to prove a point, and keep the shirt.
“When you’ve got a big squad like we have, and good players in the team, it’s hard to do that.
“If we are not performing, it’s going to get switched straight away and you are straight back out.
“It’s down to us to keep the shirt, and keep the results coming.
“Off the back of two good results before, it’s seven points from three games.”
Defender thrilled to be on scoresheet
Purrington netted the third goal in County’s 3-0 triumph over Motherwell, which continued their fine start since Adams returned to Victoria Park last month.
It was Purrington’s first league strike since joining the Staggies from Charlton Athletic in summer 2022.
Although he was forced to endure a lengthy VAR delay, having knocked home the rebound after Jordan White’s header was saved by Liam Kelly, Purrington was pleased to get on the scoresheet from a left wing-back position.
The 27-year-old said: “Clean sheets come first, but when you are playing at wing back it’s nice to chip in.
“I haven’t played there much for Ross County, it has normally been centre half or left back.
“It’s nice to play that wing back position where I can get in at the back post. Over the years I have scored a few like that, when I was at Charlton, but it’s my first one here in the league.
“I had never scored before with VAR – and you just never know.
“I think they checked both Jordan White’s header and mine, I spoke to the linesman and he said they had cleared Jordan’s, which made me panic thinking it was my one.
“He said it was tight.”
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