Foster calls for fighting spirit to avoid more pain

TWO months on from their six-goal thrashing at Celtic Park, the pain is still fresh enough in the minds of the Ross County players to ensure that they will be fired up for the rematch at the Global Energy Stadium today.

But Richard Foster, the Staggies’ most experienced defender, has stressed the need for stout hearts as well as strong minds if they are to exorcise the ghosts of their humiliating defeat in Glasgow.

Foster (below) knows from experience what it takes to deny Celtic the freedom to dominate from his time as an Aberdeen player.

The full-back, 34, was still a teenager when he helped the Dons end Celtic’s long unbroken home run of success in season 2003-04.

He recalled: ‘We had already suffered a heavy four-goal away defeat earlier in the season and the likes of Ajax and Barcelona had come to Parkhead and failed to win.

‘Then we turn up, a bunch of rag tag nobodies from Aberdeen, and beat them 2-1 with a young team because we had a lot of injuries.

‘Celtic were not quite at it but it was still a bit of a freak result. We were determined and dogged and fought for every ball.

‘You either hope they turn up expecting to win and don’t give 100 per cent or you hope you can knock them off their stride.

‘Either way, you can’t let them get into full flow because once they are up and running, there’s no way of stopping them.

‘There’s no magic formula. It’s just about working hard and trying to get as close to them as possible and make contact. I don’t mean fouling them, just not letting them get the run of the pitch.

‘If you give these Celtic players time on the ball, they will annihilate you.

‘In the 6-0 game, I don’t think we put in a tackle or caused them any problems. They didn’t have to work too hard to beat us and that’s something we’ll need to rectify.’ Foster — in his second spell at County either side of making close to 100 appearances for St Johnstone — shares the County management’s view that Celtic will be sufficiently refreshed by their Europa League win over Rennes not to give in to fatigue. ‘I don’t think it makes any difference that Celtic played on Thursday night because if you are playing well, you want to keep playing — and right now most of their players are playing well,’ said Foster.

‘And the ones that are maybe not quite up to standard, they have more than ample replacements. ‘Look at the right-back spot, for example. Neil Lennon has three right-backs who would probably walk into any team bar Rangers. ‘That shows the strength in depth they’ve got, so playing Thursday and Sunday is not an issue for them and they have shown that this season.

‘One thing Neil has managed to do is churn out a level of consistency from his players, so I’ve not doubt in my mind that they’ll be fired up.

‘So, Celtic do need to have an off day, everybody knows that, but maybe they are on a high after Thursday and coming all the way up to Dingwall might feel like a tough trip.

‘You never know, it may be too cold for them or it’s too far away.

‘We can always hope.’