'One of the best deliveries of a ball I’ve seen', player praised by Ross County manager
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HE is a special talent with “one of the best deliveries of a ball I’ve seen”, according to Ross County manager Malky Mackay about Jay Henderson.
That is no faint praise from a man with high level managerial experience north and south of the border.
None of that, though, offers guarantee of a first team place at Victoria Park.
The Staggies boss is backing the Scotland under 21 cap to make the breakthrough in Dingwall despite managing just one start so far since arriving from Caley Thistle in the summer.
But while he is a big admirer of the ex-St Mirren youth, Mackay served notice that Henderson must follow the same developmental path as first team mainstay Yan Dhanda in adapting to the Premiership.
“Jay has a terrific personality – as a youngster, he’s really bubbly,” Mackay said.
“It was always going to be tough and he has had to bide his time, but his work ethic recently has been absolutely excellent.
“There are players in the team in front of him in certain areas, and we have generally not played a system that has involved wingers too much, so that hampers him slightly.
“At the same time, he has to be ready to come on at any point, and he has applied himself brilliantly.
“He’s clearly a talent, and I knew about him growing up from the Scottish youth teams.
“Like a lot of players, it’s about learning to play in the Premiership in Scotland – that work ethic, tracking back, having the positional sense to actually affect the game.
“That was something we spoke to Yan Dhanda about, and he got it. It’s the same with Jay – where is he going to get assists and goals?
“How is he going to get into a position to do that?
“Those are the questions posed to him regularly, but he’s young and learning day to day. He can score and probably has one of the best deliveries of a ball I’ve seen, so if he keeps that willingness to want to learn then he has a good environment here get into the team and stay there.”
Mackay insists Henderson can and is certainly capable of fitting into various of his systems, whether with wing-backs, wide midfi8eldrs or out and out wingers.
“We brought him on late in the game against Hearts at wing back, but he could quite easily play in a forward area as well,” he added.
“That’s where I want to see him. What I need is players who understand the game. If they do they can go and play because it’s about five yards here or there.
“It’s style, not system.”
