Stuart Kettlewell: Continuity is key to Ross County’s impressive start

Posted Sunday, September 22, 2019 by PA

Ross County co-manager Stuart Kettlewell attributed their excellent start to the Ladbrokes Premiership season to continuity and experience after a comeback 2-1 win against Motherwell.

The Staggies have silenced critics who tipped them for relegation and they sit fifth in the table after their promotion from the Championship last season.

Substitute Brian Graham levelled for the visitors after Allan Campbell’s opener before Ross Stewart headed a late winner and Kettlewell praised the balance of his squad after their first away win in the league.

“We feel this performance is a good indication of the identity of our team, it’s our first win away from home and it’s good to get that monkey off our back. We went to Tynecastle earlier in the season and performed brilliantly but only came away with a point,” Kettlewell, added.

“We had a plan after promotion and we wanted to ensure we retained most of the players from last season. We wanted them to stay in our dressing room because they have great experience at this level and know what it takes to come away to places like this and win games.

“It’s been a massive factor in our success, we feel we have the balance right between experienced players and youth. It’ll be a massive learning curve for the three young guys in the middle of the pitch because they’re a huge part of what we are trying to do at the club.”

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson bemoaned the naivety of his young players for their inability to control proceedings late in the game.

“For 65 minutes, we dominated the game but just didn’t take our chances. Our defending was poor in the last 15 minutes, we left the middle of the pitch wide open for the first goal and for the second we took a quick throw-in when he have 10 men with three minutes to go.

“It probably shows where we are as a team in terms of experience and being able to manage a game. We will live and learn from it because we only have ourselves to blame,” Robinson, added.