PRAYING ON MY MIND
Josh still haunted by Hoops hammering
Josh Mullin and his Ross County mates felt humiliated after their first crack at Celtic in the Premiership.
In fact, as he stood shell-shocked on the Parkhead pitch after the champions had scored four times in just NINE minutes. the winger wondered if the goal blitz was ever going to end.
It was a hellish day for the Staggies in October as Neil Lennon’s side battered them 6- 0, going on 10.
Mullin knows they let themselves and their co-managers down in Glasgow and is determined to put it right today.
The 27- year- old insists a repeat performance when they face the Hoops on home soil is unthinkable.
But he’s also well aware of how strong both Celtic and Old Firm rivals Rangers look as they stretch away from everyone else at the top of the table.
As he recalled that last meeting at Celtic Park, Mullin said: “Nobody wants to get beat 6- 0 and that was my first ever game at Parkhead.
“During that nine-minute spell in the second half when we lost four goals, I remember thinking, ‘How do we stop this?’ Celtic were THAT good.
“When they’re at it, it’s difficult to stop them. All of our boys were in the same boat that day. We were embarrassed after it and that’s how the managers felt too. Quite rightly, they felt let down but we have a wee chance to put things right on Sunday.
“The reality of it is that Celtic and Rangers have millions to spend and we don’t. We have to work with what we’ve got.
“That’s not an excuse for losing 6- 0 and we know that.
“We certainly don’t want it to happen again and our aim on Sunday is to give a far better account of ourselves.
“It would be great to catch them cold after their Europa League game on Thursday but real ist ical ly we’ve been watching the Old Firm clubs being bang at it in just about every game recently.
“So it ’ s going to take something special for us to beat them.
“We’ll go into it positively, thinking we can get something, but that’s the reality of where they’re at.”
The Celtic defeat came in the middle of County’s current poor run of results.
After an impressive start to the campaign following promotion, they’re now on an eight-game winless run.
With both Stuart Kettlewell and Stevie Ferguson in charge, the Staggies have a unique managerial situation. But Mullin is convinced that it works for County and says the duo are responsible for keeping morale high - even during their current bad run.
That’s why he believes they can still achieve what they set out to do at the start of the season by staying in the division.
He said: “I enjoy having co-managers. In training, they split the drills into two groups so the boys get more touches of the ball. Things like that are beneficial.
“Most of the boys like it because they both work really well together.
“And they’re great at lifting the place after a bad defeat, they don’t let any negativity linger around.
“They don’t hammer boys, it’s just not how they work.
In meetings, they never pick out any individual. They’re there to help all the players. “And their message has never changed from the start of the season.
“They’ve never spoken about top six or anything like that.
“Our aim has always been the same, just to stay in this league.
“The mood in the camp is still good. Everyone here realises it won’t be like last season when we were dominating games.
“So we’re staying positive and that comes from the managers.”
We will give a far better account of ourselves