Saturday provides Don Cowie and his playing squad an opportunity to return to home soil as Aberdeen travel along the A96 for our fourth William Hill Premiership clash of the season. The match has a different kick-off time than normal, with play commencing at 5:45 PM. The match is live on Premier Sports.
Ross County
Coming off the back of a week of difficult and disappointing results, a return to the Global Energy Stadium comes at a good time for us, with an opportunity to get back to playing football the way we know we can – as well as a chance to grab some points hopefully too.
We suffered our first Premiership defeat of the season last weekend in what was a hard match against a confident Rangers side.
The trip to Hampden Park wasn’t as successful as we hoped, and Rangers rode the crest of a wave a put six goals past our Highland side without reply in the end.
The positive coming from that match was seeing new man Joshua Nisbet make his Ross County debut.
The Australia international worked hard for twenty minutes off the bench, which has hopefully given him a good grounding and first taste of the weird and wonderful Scottish game.
During the week Polish youth international Kacper Lopata joined on a season-long loan from Barnsley.
The centre-half came through the ranks at Brighton and Hove Albion.
Young Everton defender Elijah Campbell also joined the club this week.
The left-sided England youth international also joins on a season-long loan after spending part of last season on loan at Fleetwood Town.
Player to Watch
Ronan Hale has excited Ross County fans to no end since he arrived in the Highlands from Cliftonville.
He has hit the ground running, grabbing three goals in two matches in the league cup group stages.
He also smashed home a last-minute equaliser versus Dundee United to rescue a point, already making him a fan favourite.
The quick striker seems to have a bit of freedom under the guidance of Don Cowie, who has made him a regular starter.
With his front-footed approach and dynamism, Hale appears to have all the qualities needed to become a key player for Ross County.
Despite the poor result last weekend, Hale looked like the bright spark in the team and tested Jack Butland on a few occasions.
Aberdeen
New manager Jimmy Thelin has transformed fortunes on the east coast since arriving in Scotland from Sweden.
The former IF Elfsborg gaffer has the Dons playing a fresh and attractive brand of football which is not only easy on the eye but is getting some very positive results out of the Reds.
In their first three Premiership matches, Aberdeen have won all three taking nine points from a possible nine.
The Dons have only conceded two goals this term, with Slobodan Rubezic and Gavin Molloy forming a strong new partnership in the rear end of the XI.
Pape Habib Gueye has scored three in three so far, and potentially playing up top alongside new loan signing and Scotland international Kevin Nisbet could help him even more.
The additions by Thelin have added nicely to what was already a decent squad, and Aberdeen, on current form, will have no reason not to fancy themselves highly in the encounter.
Player to Watch
Former St Mirren man Jamie McGrath has been red hot early on in this campaign.
The attacking midfielder seems to have been unleashed under Thelin and looks to be playing some of his best football yet.
The Irish international has mostly operated on the left side of the attack.
He has two goals and three assists already this season and will be determined to continue providing those numbers on his visit to the Highlands.
McGrath netted on four occasions in all three league matches versus Ross County last season.
From the Dugout with Don Cowie
Don had no plans to shy away from the disappointing cup upset against The Spartans, and conceding six goals to Glasgow giants Rangers provoked a similar response from the gaffer.
He said: “You can go the Old Firm and be faced with a challenge like that, a difficult game – but once you end up and two or three nil it’s about how do you stop the bleeding and stop the goals going in.
“That’s a collective thing that we need to be better at.
“You can lose football matches, that happens.
“But there is a manner in which to do so – that performance is not one that I want to see on a regular basis.”
With the prospect of three home matches coming up, manager Cowie believes his players can put that to good use – with hopes of maintaining what is an already impressive home record.
Since Don took charge of the team, his side has lost just one match at home in the last twelve.
Don added: “We’re proud of our home record in the last three to four months, but at the same time it doesn’t guarantee anything.
“We know were coming up against a top-quality team – but history shows that we are better at home.
“This is a great venue, and when away fans come and behind the goal is packed out it makes for a great atmosphere.
“We want to try and maintain that and enjoy that in terms of playing and winning here – hopefully the players will feed off a bouncing atmosphere.”
“They’ve changed their manager and had a fantastic start to the season”, Don said on the prospect of taking on Aberdeen.
“They will be really confident and come with big support – it’s going to be a difficult game, but we know that we have proven we’re very good at home.
“It is one we’re looking forward to and should be excited about – it’s a night-time kick-off, live on TV with a big crowd, what’s there not to look forward to?”
Familiar Faces
Two former Ross County managers have played for both sides in Derek Adams and Neale Cooper.
Silverware winners with the Staggies Steven Craig, Gary Woods, and Paul Quinn have also played for both teams.
Memorable Match
Teenager Steven Ross netted for County in just his second start as we managed to defeat Aberdeen 2-1 in the second meeting between the sides.
Staggies View 