Clarke admits County have nowhere to hide

HARRY CLARKE admits the time for excuses is long gone after Ross County sank to the bottom of the Premiership after a 3-2 home defeat to St Mirren.

The Dingwall team have faced difficulties this season with a mass Covid outbreak, a highly demanding first six fixtures and a late influx of new signings.

Arsenal loanee Clarke, though, is not one to hide from the reality of the team’s situation, three points adrift at the bottom, after taking just three points from the first nine games.

Clarke looked a class act for County, but was at fault for Saints’ second goal.

He said: “It’s always time up for excuses as far as I’m concerned and I never make them. I always hold my hands up.

“The longer it goes on the harder it gets. In the Livingston game, at home next weekend, we have to start like we played in the second half.

“We didn’t start well and in the second half we gave ourselves too much to do. We were climbing a mountain. “It’s easy to play against a team when you are a couple of goals down and the shackles come off because you’ve got freedom and everyone grows in confidence. But we can’t keep starting poorly and getting a kick up the backside by conceding like that.” County had around 20 attempts at goal but, again, could not make the good play count. Clarke added: “We had chances. We hit the woodwork a few times.

But they took their chances and we gifted them goals with individual mistakes. Now we have to put this behind us and move on.

“When we were two goals down, we had them on the back foot. But we had to do better in the first half.”

Meanwhile, Scott Tanser believes a nightmarish ordeal at Celtic Park has helped turn St Mirren into the real deal.

The Saints’ left-back was part of the 10-man team mercilessly ripped apart by Ange Postecoglou’s side in August. The 6-0 thrashing – with David Turnbull netting a hat-trick – came after Alan Power’s 19th minute red card. It looked bleak for the Buddies after taking just two points from the first four matches, but they steadied with three hard-fought draws and the worrying start has given way to increasingly convincing and consistent form.

Tanser said: “The Celtic defeat probably had a positive effect in the sense that it showed that teams will tear you apart if you give them too much time and space. It wasn’t a pleasant experience to lose six, but after that defeat we all came together. There was a change to our formation and we have played a little differently.”