The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Rare bad days cannot undermine Laidlaw’ s case for the defence
Ross Laidlaw will not allow two bad days at the office to dampen his belief that Ross County are a stronger defensive unit this season.
Laidlaw, who is an everpresent in the league for County this season, racked up his ninth clean sheet of the campaign in last weekend’s 2-0 win over Livingston.
That is one more shut out than the Staggies kept throughout the duration of last season.
Among the 52 goals they have conceded this term have been a humiliating 5-0 loss to Motherwell in October, and a chastening 6-1 defeat against Hearts last month.
Even with those two heavy defeats County’s defensive record is far from the worst in the league, with the Staggies ranking sixth best of the 12 teams in the goals conceded chart.
Goalkeeper Laidlaw feels his side have strong defensive foundations to build on when they make the trip to Dundee United today.
He said: “Defensively, we’ve actually not been too bad this year. By and large, we’ve tightened up at the back, where we were not so good in previous years.
“Hearts was a freak result, a bit like Motherwell before it.
“Over the course, we’ve been pretty solid and it was good to get another clean sheet.
“We have more this season than last season.
“The manager was a defender, so he is quite defensive-minded in how he wants us to play.
“He expects forward players to come back, defend and help out.
“It is a big thing for us and we’re looking to build on Saturday’s clean sheet.”
The bottom-placed Staggies go into today’s crunch match at Tannadice trailing Jim Goodwin’s side by just a point. While Laidlaw expects there will be nervy moments in the weeks ahead, he says sticking to manager Malky Mackay’s gameplan will be key to winning their survival battle.
He added: “We had a discussion about it on Tuesday and I think we were a bit nervy against Livingston – as were the fans in the stadium as well.
“That filtered on to the pitch a bit.
“There’s going to be a need to be brave in these situations and it showed when we got the goal – it meant it did just really settle us down.
“There will be pressure again on Saturday, but we just need to believe we can compete at this level.
“There will be more nervy stages in the next few weeks, but it is just having that confidence to stick to the gameplan and what the manager wants from us.
“It is people going off track, doing their own thing, that can kill us.”
A near-capacity crowd is expected at Tannadice, as both sides aim for a significant result in the survival run-in.
Laidlaw, who had a short spell at United prior to joining County in 2019, hopes his side can thrive on the atmosphere.
The 30-year-old said: “I think that will lift us as well. As a professional football player, you want to play in the biggest stadiums and in the high-pressure matches.
“It is not about preseason games and League Cup group stages.
“That’s what it is all about. This is what you play football for, to play in these big games with high pressure. That’s when you test yourself and you discover the player you are.
“We’ve got to thrive on that pressure, go there and believe we can get a result.”