The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Draper is fighting fit
Staggies: County midfielder Ross is reaping benefits of strict fitness regime
Ross County midfielder Ross Draper is working overtime on his fitness in his attempts to make the grade with the Staggies at Dingwall.
Ross County midfielder Ross Draper is working overtime in his attempts to make the grade at the Staggies.
Englishman Draper made the move from Highland rivals Caley Thistle in the summer after spending five years with Inverness.
Having been relegated to the Championship with Caley Jags last season, Draper was initially taken aback by the level of fitness required at Dingwall but the 29-year-old now feels up to speed.
Draper said:
“I knew from the start I’d have to really fight for my place.
“You only have to look at the squad, which is fantastic in talent and depth as well, with 18 to 20 players of real quality and young boys also coming through.
“No one is guaranteed a place. My fitness was below par. I was quite surprised by the intensity of it when I came here.
“I knew from day one I had to get fitter and the training, every day, and the extra facilities we have here have been brilliant towards getting me up to the mark. I feel like it is now benefiting me on the park on a Saturday. I feel a lot fitter – the fittest I’ve been in a very long time. I’m getting up and down the park, rather than just sitting as I have done in recent years.
“It has taken a lot to get there but I feel good. I’m really feeling the benefits.”
Draper was signed by Jim McIntyre, who was sacked and replaced by Owen Coyle in September.
“I was quite surprised by the intensity of it when I came here”
Draper has been impressed by the impact made by former Burnley and Bolton Wanderers manager Coyle, who has won three of his opening six matches to move to within a point of a top-six position.
Draper added: “It isn’t nice to lose a manager as we did with Jim McIntyre.
“Jim was brilliant in bringing me in. I’m grateful to him and always will be but that’s football. Managers go and new ones come in.
“The manager has been brilliant, speaking to everyone about getting their chance. He’s always fair and speaks to you when he drops you. “He pulls you in before every game and tells you who is playing and who isn’t. There’s respect there. It’s brilliant he does that.
“I didn’t play against Hamilton because we went two up front and he spoke to me before the game and told me why he was pulling me out. Rather than going away and beating yourself up on a Friday, wondering why you’re out or feeling a wee bit angry, you know what you’ve got to do to get back in.
“He’s been in the game long enough to know what he needs to do to manage players and has been brilliant with that. Training has been good and results have picked up as well. We’ve taken 10 points from 21, playing some big sides, and even then you could argue we could have been unbeaten. It has just been those small margins.
“There are lots of positives.”
Celtic winger James Forrest has warned Ross County there will be no let-up as the Hoops look to build on their record-breaking unbeaten run.
Brendan Rodgers’ players broke Celtic’s own 100-year-old of 62 domestic games without defeat by beating St Johnstone 4-0 on their last outing before the international break.
Celtic travel to Dingwall on Saturday to take on the Staggies before a midweek Champions League encounter against Paris St Germain and then the League Cup final against Motherwell.
Forrest says the Hoops are determined to keep the momentum going when they take on Owen Coyle’s side this weekend.
He said: “We got the record in style in the St Johnstone game.
“The manager hasn’t really spoken about it. He takes it one game at a time and that won’t change because it is that approach that has brought us the success we have had so far.
“It was good to get a break at the weekend. I think that has been our first break since pre-season.
“We have been playing two or three games a week but you want to be involved in all the big games.
“It was good to get that rest but now we are back into another tough schedule and we want to start by being ready for the Ross County game.
“The season has been tough, both physically and mentally, because we are in right from the start in the Champions League quali- fiers. After Ross County, we have a Champions League game and then a cup final. They are big games and we know we will need to pick it up and be at it again.”
Forrest says the tough competition for places at Celtic is bringing out the best in him. He added: “Even when you go away with Scotland it is the same – not just at Celtic. When you go away there are 27 players and there are maybe four, five or six players who can play in your position.
“It is the same at Celtic because we have two or three international players for every position.
“It keeps you motivated because you know if you don’t kick on or be at it then there will be another player to come in. It is more competition for places and it drives people. If you ask everyone they want to play – that is everyone’s attitude because we all want to make sure we are available for every game.
“You always need to be at it in training and to be working hard to give your best chance to play in the games.”
“They are big games and we need to pick it up and be at it again”