Stu boys must do better
Stuart Kettlewell slammed the effort of Ross County’s players and challenged them to prove they can hack it for the club in a daunting run of fixtures.
The Dingwall gaffer was furious at the commitment shown against 10 men in the 3-1 loss at Kilmarnock.
Now he wants to see who is up for Celtic away in the Betfred Cup followed by Premiership games at home to Rangers and away to Aberdeen.
Kettlewell said: “That’s right up there in my 12 years or so with this club as being unacceptable, lacking spirit, lacking heart, everything that I’m against in football.
“I won’t mask over it. I won’t hide behind playing young players or the statistics.
“You want guys who’ll go hell for leather – and I
didn’t have a group of guys doing that. It’s the biggest disappointment.
“We don’t want them feeling sorry for themselves. We’ve got as tough a run as you can get now.
“It’s up to me to look in the whites of people’s eyes and see who is up for the fight and who is up for putting themselves up there for the club.
“I have to find the guys who will step up to the plate in these extremely challenging games and surroundings – Parkhead, playing Rangers at home, Pittodrie. There is no hiding place.”
Tom Grivosti may be missing for those tests as he hobbled off with a hamstring injury early in the second half.
The 21- y e a r - old defender headed an equaliser but after the break County failed to build on drawing level.
Kettlewell said: “We got a false dawn with the goal. It was so frustrating to see us not lay a glove on Killie after the sending-off.”