Staggies must not dwell on Celtic Park rout, says Kettlewell

Ross County co-manager Stuart Kettlewell insists the Staggies have no time to feel sorry for themselves following Saturday’s chastening 6-0 loss to Celtic at Parkhead.

The Staggies suffered their heaviest Premiership defeat at the hands of the Hoops on Saturday, bringing the newly-promoted Dingwall men back down to earth following a fine start to the campaign.

County are on the road once again when they face Hibernian at Easter Road on Saturday, with the Staggies hosting Rangers next Wednesday.

Kettlewell says his players cannot dwell on their Parkhead thrashing, and he said: “We have to use it as a learning tool going forward.

“It’s always been myself and Steven Ferguson’s approach, we don’t get lost in one result.

“As much as it hurt on Saturday, our professional pride was seriously dented, from our perspective this doesn’t set us off track of what we are trying to achieve.

“We wanted to come and play at this level, and we now have to rectify this.

“We have been on a rich vein of form, four games unbeaten which is always positive, so it’s really important we don’t get too carried away with the negative message that comes across.

“But we are going to have to learn a harsh lesson from this.

“We have to lick our wounds and get ourselves prepared for another tough run of games, against Hibs at Easter Road this week and then Rangers the Wednesday afterwards.

“It doesn’t get any easier, but we have to become better. It’s as simple as that.”

Despite Celtic boss Neil Lennon describing the victory as the most complete performance since he returned as Hoops boss in February, Kettlewell was far from pleased with his own side’s contribution, adding: “You always tip your hat to good play, but there were so many factors that were unacceptable.

“We said last week we were never going to be judged on what we did on Saturday, but we judge ourselves as professionals.

“It doesn’t matter that we were coming to the toughest venue in the country, it’s still not acceptable to lose a game 6-0.

“This is one that’s going to have to be sore for us all. We have to analyse what went wrong and make sure it never happens again.”

County will have on-loan Hoops midfielder Ewan Henderson back against Hibs after being ineligible to face his parent club on Saturday, with Kettlewell adding: “The initial period for Ewan has been really good. He’s done well here.

“Ewan’s had the boost of going away with Scotland under 21s, which shows what people think of him.

“He’s an excellent kid to work with on a daily basis and somebody I believe will have big future in the game.”

Stuart Kettlewell – County will ‘lick wounds.’