Adams not keen on taking in trialists
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DEREK Adams will not be taking in trialists as Ross County step up their pre-season training preparations this week ahead of their first friendly on Saturday.
A trip to Highland League side Brora Rangers is the first of five pre-season matches for County before the season officially starts with a home tie against Elgin City in the first round of the Ramsdens Cup on Saturday 23rd July.
For the majority of managers, friendly matches are the ideal opportunity to run the rule over any trialists that have been recommended to them, but Adams does not favour that approach.
The County boss has already been busy in the summer transfer market, having made seven signings, and he has not ruled out further additions.
He would not, however, be keen to take in players on trial, preferring instead to bring new faces to the club that he has watched himself and believes would be good additions to the squad at Dingwall.
“I have no plans to bring in any trialists,” he said. “It is not something that I would look to do.
“I like to take in players I know something about, or have worked with in the past.
“Bringing player in on trial is not a route I would look to go down because I like to know a bit about someone beforehand.”
Adams is still looking to further supplement his first-team playing pool, but conceded he has no interest in former Clyde forward Marc McCusker (21), who had previously been linked with a move to County.
Meanwhile, Adams has not put a timescale on the return of defender Darren McCormack, but did confirm that the 22-year-old would not be available for the start of the season.
“Darren is a good bit away from fitness,” said Adams about McCormack, who broke his leg in a match against Dundee at the turn of the year.
“It was a very bad break that he had and because if this we cannot say exactly when we expect Darren back, but he’ll certainly not be ready for when the season begins.”
For Adams and his players, their pre-season schedule continues this week and the County manager is happy with the progress being made so far.
“I’m delighted with the way it’s going,” he said. “All the lads have come back in good shape and just now it’s a case of working on the fitness levels.
“We’ve managed to do a bit of work with the ball as well, so we’ll just keep working hard and continue to do that for the remainder of pre-season.”
Along with facing Brora on Saturday, County come up against Highland League opposition in the shape of Clach (Tuesday 5th July), Forres Mechanics (Thursday 7th July) and Keith (Tuesday 12th July). All these games are away from home and kick-off at 7.30pm.
The Dingwall club will finish off their pre-season schedule with a trip to Scottish Premier League side Kilmarnock on Saturday 16th July (kick-off 3pm).
“We always play against the Highland League teams because as a club we don’t want to forget where we have come from,” said Adams.
“It’s good for the local community to see us playing Highland League teams, while we finish off with a very difficult match at Kilmarnock.
“It will be hard as the Highland League sides have been back training before us and Kilmarnock are a division above us, but the main aim is to make sure that these games get us ready for the season starting and I’m sure they will.”
