Match Preview - Dundee United (A)

By Peter Mackay

Ross County are on the road for the second match in a row as Don Cowie’s men travel south to face Dundee United in the City of Discovery.

Kick-off at Tannadice Park on Saturday is at 3:00 PM.

Ross County

The Staggies enter this one off the back of three matches unbeaten in a row. As well as a comeback win at home over Kilmarnock, County kept two clean sheets and picked up two points in draws with Hibernian and St Mirren.

Those recent results mean the Staggies sit ninth in the table – but joint with three other teams on 12 points.

In the away draw vs St Mirren, keeper Ross Laidlaw saved a Greg Kiltie penalty to secure our fourth clean sheet of the season.

That defensive solidity will be important come Saturday, as Dundee United have not struggled to find the back of the net this season.

Player to watch

Since joining on loan from Barnsley, Kacper Lopata has been a key commanding presence in the back-line of Don Cowie’s team.

The 23-year-old old instantly impressed with his strong heading and hard tackling – turning him into a fan favourite already.

The Polish defender is winning 4.22 duals per match, as well as intercepting 1.41 times per match.

Not only are his stats impressive, but the way he communicates is key, allowing Akil Wright and Ryan Leak to do their jobs perfectly.

In the 94^th percentile for defensive actions among other SPFL centre-backs – it’s no wonder the County defence has looked strong of late.

Dundee United

Jim Goodwin’s side has adjusted very well to the top flight of Scottish football following their promotion.

Some people thought they might struggle – however, the Arabs sit in 4^th place having picked up four wins and four draws so far this season.

Their matches have been goal-heavy. They have scored 15 times but are also vulnerable at the back having conceded on 13 occasions.

The Tangerines are without a win in their last three matches, which includes two defeats to Aberdeen and Motherwell.

Last time out they drew 1-1 with bottom side Hibernian.

Player to Watch

North Macedonian David Babunski has been made skipper of United, despite only arriving in the summer.

That shows the credit he holds and how much he is rated by Jim Goodwin.

The midfielder came through a Barcelona academy and trained with the likes of Messi and Iniesta, but this weekend it’s top tackler in the Premiership Connor Randall he has to contend with.

The 30-year-old has netted on one occasion this season but is also likely to drop in and dictate the tempo for Dundee United.

The former Red Star Belgrade man has over a 78% pass completion rate – again showing his tody features on the ball.

From the Dugout with Don Cowie

Having been confined to a relegation play-off for the past two seasons – it’s justified to say that Ross County fans haven’t been able to be wholeheartedly confident in their defence over recent seasons.

And having watched on as assistant and interim manager, it appears Don Cowie was also incredibly eager to change the narrative of a County side which leaked easy goals.

The County legend turned gaffer has revolutionized his backline in a short space of time, laying out a structure which has made Ross County much harder to beat this season.

What has also helped Don is the fact his new signings have taken to his instructions like ducks to water.

Don Cowie said: “We spoke about being better defensively – and if you look at the goals against, they’ve really only come in a couple of games rather than over a period of 12 matches – which shows the improvement that we've had.

“The two games highlighted that, two really solid defensive displays – albeit without getting the goals to get three points.”

Eli Campbell has played in a variety of positions over the season and was back to his natural centre-half position at the weekend.

At just 19 years old, Don has been delighted with the maturity in his performances.

He added: “He’s done brilliantly – you forget how young he is and inexperienced he is in terms of first-team football but he's been a breath of fresh air in terms of how he conducts himself and trains.

“I don’t think it matters which position I play him in – he will do the best he can and once again on Saturday he illustrated that.”

Despite such a strong showing, Eli did commit a foul on Marcus Fraser in the box – giving the home side a penalty.

On that incident, Don said: “I was slightly annoyed with him in terms of the laziness of giving away the penalty – it's about doing things right, he needs to accept and understand that when you're playing at this level you can't get away with that.”

Of course, there is still that monkey on the back of having not won away from home in over a year despite a strong performance.

On the poor away record, Don added: “Until we break that I’m always going to get asked the question and rightly so.

“It doesn’t mean we go into any away game not trying to win it – I think on Saturday you could see that.

“If we keep giving ourselves the best opportunity one of these days we will fall on the right side of it away from home – and that can give the group real belief.”

Previous Encounters

Earlier this season a late Ronan Hale goal grabbed a point for the Staggies in our first home match of the season.

Jordan White netted a wonderful hat-trick last time we played at Tannadice. It was a huge three points which helped us clamber off the foot of the table.

Memorable Match

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl02M2M7dHE

Familiar Faces

Ross Laidlaw and Scott Allardice both played for United before arriving in Dingwall.

Simon Murray, Brian Graham, Craig Curran and Michael Gardyne all played for Dundee United.

Team News

George Harmon, Will Nightingale and Max Sheaf are out.

Referee

John Beaton

Tickets: https://t.co/fBknfilUWQ