Ando backs old boss to recover

ROSS County may have slipped to the foot of the Ladbrokes Premiership table but, in Owen Coyle, they have the right man to steer them to safety.

That’s the view of veteran St Johnstone defender Steven Anderson, who acknowledges the influence the former Burnley, Bolton, Wigan and Blackburn manager had on his career during a two-year spell chasing promotion at Perth and earlier at Dundee United.

Saints face the Staggies in Dingwall buoyed by away wins against Hamilton, Hibernian and Rangers in recent weeks but Anderson knows Coyle will be keen to extricate County from their current predicament.

“Owen is a very good manager. I rate him highly. He is a very positive guy, he encourages you and he’s good at it,” said the Perth centre-back.

“He’s been very influential in the career I have had. I played under him at Dundee United when he took the Under-21s. Then I came here and played quite a lot of games under him for St Johnstone.

“What do I recall about his time as manager of St Johnstone? That it was a successful time for the club. Okay, we never won the league but when he took over we were near the bottom and he took us up the table and we were challenging for the title. We also got to cup semi finals as well.

“I’m surprised to see County bottom of the league. It is always a tough place to go and it will be again.”

Marcus Fraser, meanwhile, admits he has no idea what the future holds as he focuses on steering Ross County to Premiership safety.

The former Celtic youth, who will be out of contract next summer, said: “I need to play the games here. I’m obviously contracted to Ross County. Whatever happens will happen, but when I’m going out on that pitch and on to the training field, I’m giving 100 per cent every day.

“I’m in a different position here than I was at Celtic. My contract was running out then too, but that was different.”