Derek Adams hails ‘great record’ as Houston rues lack of goal threat

By ALAN PATTULLO
Published on 15/09/2012 01:54

By the time Ross County entertain St Johnstone a week today, it will have been more than 400 days since their last league defeat.

Derek Adams last night hailed his side’s record after a 0-0 draw with Dundee United maintained a remarkable run stretching back to August last year, when they were beaten 5-1 by Hamilton Accies.

Neither Ross County or United give much away and so there could be little surprise at the outcome last night in front of nearly 7,000 fans. Sadly for the healthy attendance, it was not a match to remember. But Adams could not hide his delight as Ross County again indicated that they will more than hold their own in the Scottish Premier League this season. Like United, if they had only won last night they would have moved to the top of the league.

“It’s a great record,” said Adams. “To do it [go unbeaten] in six games in the SPL, against the likes of Aberdeen, Motherwell, Celtic, Dundee and Dundee United, is particularly pleasing. We have had a difficult start to the season and to go unbeaten and move up the league again, we are just delighted with the progress we are making.”

He was asked for the secret of his side’s success. “We have good players,” he said. “We have a good understanding. We need to kick on and win games but if you have clean sheets, it will stand you in good stead.”

Ross County have not beaten United since Adams himself scored twice in a win in Dingwall in 1998. “I thought this might have been our best opportunity to beat them,” he said. “They were missing Jon Daly and he is a big player for them. I am disappointed, but not overly disappointed. I am realistic.”

Peter Houston, the Dundee United manager, paid tribute to the resolute nature of their opponents last night. “Here I am moaning about us not scoring a goal, but it is some unbeaten run Ross County are on,” he said. “They are getting draws in the SPL because they are working very hard as a team, and getting behind the ball. It’s up to us to try and score goals against them and we never managed that tonight. They are a counter-attacking side and are hard to beat.”

Houston was not too despondent after his side moved up to second place in the league. He sounded philosophical about the decision made by referee Willie Collum not to award United a penalty in the second half when Ryan Dow was sent tumbling after a tackle by Ross Tokely.

“Some you get, some you don’t,” he said. “On this occasion we did not get it. Up until the final third we were excellent. We missed the presence of Jon Daly, who scored 20 odd goals last season and we missed the creativity of Gary Mackay-Steven, who maybe supplied 30 odd goals last season. Take any two big players out of the United first team, and we will always find it hard.

“I have no complaints,” he added. “On another night, if we get an early goal it opens it up and Ross County would have had to come at us a bit more. But that’s four clean sheets out of five in the SPL. The only team to score against us is Kilmarnock. There are a lot of positives to take. What we need to work on is where we get our goals from.”

Asked about the Friday night scheduling, Houston was effusive in his praise: “I loved it. I love night games. If my games were every Friday night it would not bother me. It was nice to see a good turn-out. The only reason we are playing is because Dundee are at home tomorrow, but if they want to change it to Friday nights for us the next time there is a clash then I will happily play. I liked it, and I think the players liked it too, as well as the fans.”