Lewis Spence: Wake up to harsh time in top flight for Ross County
LEWIS Spence is warning Ross County colleagues they must deal with the harsh realities of Premiership life now the honeymoon period is over.
The former Dunfermline and Dundee midfielder felt the top division’s “brutal” nature was showcased in Dingwall.
Aberdeen’s dead ball know-how made the difference in fine margins between victory and defeat.
Spence, impressive in four consecutive starts since recovering from last season’s dislocated shoulder injury, stressed there was collective blame for a run of seven games without a win.
The Dons’ savvy in winning close-fought matches shone.
That was despite a fierce competitiveness from County in open play.
The 23-year-old Spence, who tasted top-flight football with Dundee before joining County in January, said: “I thought we were right in it. Most of the game was quite even. Two of their goals came from set pieces, which really frustrates us.
“They’ve not broken us down. In open play, they weren’t troubling our goalkeeper although they had a lot of the ball. In the first half especially, when we started passing the ball, we created more chances.
“Niall McGinn’s free-kick goes through the wall and one of us should have got a head to the second one (from Ryan Hedges). The third is a bit of a mix-up and could have been cleared.
“We were really gutted because we felt we were right in the game, but we just need to stick together. There is a long way to go.”
Spence wants County to regroup over the international break and be ready for a huge match away to St Mirren.
Victory would take County nine points clear of the bottom side.
The midfielder added: “We’ve not won in the last seven matches, which we’re obviously really disappointed about. It sounds bad, but we’re still in sixth place. We’ve taken four points in those matches and shown spirit coming back in games.
“It has been tough against the Old Firm and tough against Aberdeen
“We don’t hide from the poor run, but the table doesn’t lie. We’re still in the top half and, after the international break, we have a massive game down in Paisley against St Mirren. We need to go there and get three points.
“We’ve had the fun and excitement coming into the league, but now we need to get down to business. It is a brutal league. We have to show we can deal with it.”