Tony Dingwall impresses Ross County boss Jim McIntyre with improved attitude
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TONY Dingwall has impressed Ross County boss Jim McIntyre in his quest to return to the starting 11.
McIntyre wanted more from Dingwall this season, given his drop from the first-team picture, and the Staggies manager praised his attitude in trying to address those concerns.
It is a big year for Dingwall, given he is out of contract at the end of the season and faces a race against time to earn a new deal.
The 22-year-old has not started a game for County since a 3-2 loss to St Johnstone in December last year, after breaking into the team following McIntyre’s appointment in September 2014. He has, however, come off the bench in four of County’s last five games.
McIntyre said in August that he wanted Dingwall to do more, given that he has had several opportunities to cement his place in the County first-team. He also cited Michael Gardyne as an example that the 22-year-old would do well to follow.
However, there has been a marked improvement from the home-grown product – which has not gone unnoticed by his manager.
“Tony has showed a great attitude in training and he’s made an impact when he’s come on,” said McIntyre.
“We told him we wanted him to be more dynamic and he’s certainly trying to take it on board. He’s working his socks off and is trying to make a difference.
“We’ve got good options in the wide areas and everyone who plays in that position knows they have to be on their game, or there’s a chance they’ll be replaced.”
McIntyre has been boosted this week with the news that four injury doubts emanating from the Rangers game will not be long-term.
Michael Gardyne felt a recurrence of a hamstring injury that troubled him earlier in the season, while Martin Woods was suffering from concussion after a blow to the head in training.
Paul Quinn was rested to allow a knock to heal and Erik Cikos was taken off with a dead leg earlier in the 1-1 draw.
“Erik returned to training on Monday and will be fine,” added McIntyre. “With Paul, it was time to get him right, rather than putting him at risk.”
Like Dingwall, Quinn and Woods are out of contract at the end of the season, as well as Craig Curran, Andrew Davies, Jonathan Franks, Marcus Fraser, Alex Schalk, Chris Burke, Erik Cikos, Ryan Dow and Kenny van der Weg. There has been no movement yet on any potential extensions.
Meanwhile, Liam Boyce has been added to the Northern Ireland squad for their World Cup qualifier with Azerbaijan tonight.
Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill was hit by the withdrawal of Stuart Dallas and Jamie Ward earlier this week through injury and recalled Boyce, who missed the last internationals in October after damaging his medial ligament against St Johnstone.
County defender Jay McEveley is one that does not mind the international break.
Given the club’s run of 10 games without a win, it gives them chance to refresh and try to put right what has been costing them results this season.
“We’ll keep ticking over, we’ve had a couple of international breaks already and we used that time wisely,” said McEveley.
“We used the time training but we always used the time to rest up and get ourselves ready because we put a lot of energy into our games.
“We are a high pressing team, training is quite tough so we do need those rest days but we’ve got to work on things to move forward.
“It’s been the last four or five games really where we’ve shot ourselves in the foot a little bit – other teams have picked up points.”
