Staggies need to stop playing catch-up
Ro s s Co u n t y co-manager St u a r t Kettlewell has warned his players they can’t keep pulling out all the stops only after they fall behind.
They salvaged a point with a lastgasp equaliser for the second time in a week here but he and Steven Ferguson were unhappy with their second- half showing.
Hamilton could have been out of sight before Brian Graham struck at the death and Kettlewell made that clear to his charges afterwards.
“We were really buoyed last week, when we came back from two down against Hibs at Easter Road to get a point, and I felt that we should have managed the game better here after scoring early on,” he said.
“There’s a little bit of disappointment there. Yes, we’re heartened by scoring another late goal but we can’t keep putting ourselves in positions like this. There are easier ways to see yourself through games.
“In the second half you could see quite clearly that Hamilton threw everything at us.
“They used two physical strikers and tried to play off knockdowns and that tested us. I just feel we could have passed the ball better at times, especially when I look at our second goal.
“You won’t see a better one this weekend in terms of the number of passes and the quality of the finish.
“That was what we’d asked for at the break but it didn’t pan out that way and the fact it didn’t come to fruition is what causes the disappointment.
“We found it difficult to speak to the players afterwards because, obviously, we’re happy about coming away with a point given the predicament we found ourselves in but we didn’t play at all in the second half until we scored.
“Credit to Hamilton – they fought hard and it was effective. It’s a bitter- sweet one for us.”
“Scoring so early is unheard of for us and it was good that big Lee Erwin was involved. He’s had a long road back to fitness and we believe he can be a huge player for us.
“He played his part in the build- up and it was good to see Billy Mckay scoring again because some of his recent performances have merited a goal.”