Ross County midfielder wants to attack champions Celtic
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Michael Gardyne believes Ross County have to give Celtic something to worry about if they are to get a positive result tomorrow.
The defending champions travel north to Dingwall for both sides’ first game of the season in front of fans after the Global Energy Stadium was confirmed as a pilot venue for a maximum of 300 spectators this weekend.
Celtic put 13 goals past the Staggies last season, with Ross Stewart scoring County’s solitary goal against the Hoops over the campaign last December.
Earlier this season, manager Stuart Kettlewell spoke about having a mentality that attack is the best form of defence, and now club legend Gardyne has echoed those sentiments ahead of what will be one of the club’s biggest tests of the season.
“We’ll work on our defensive shape and where we need to be on the pitch in relation to their set-up when they’ve got the ball,” Gardyne said.
“We also need to think about trying to hurt them, we can’t go into these games thinking defend, defend, defend, because then it just turns into waves of attack, even though at times against Celtic it is like that.
“We always get that 10 or 20-minute spell where we need to take advantage.
“It works both ways, we will need to be on our guard as always against Celtic or Rangers, but we need to try and hurt them as well.”
Gardyne has been involved in the last four occasions County have earned points against Celtic.
The 34-year-old does not expect memories of those surprise results to play any role tomorrow though, owing in part to the changes in both teams since then.
“Those are in the past now,” Gardyne insisted.
“They are good to look back on, for us anyway, but they’re in the past.
“Neil Lennon has signed a few good players in pre-season, he has a new squad, so I’m sure he’s not too bothered about times we have beaten them in the past.”
