Houston wary of Ross threat

13 September 2012 17:44

Dundee United boss Peter Houston insists there is no chance of his side taking Ross County lightly in Friday night's SPL clash at Tannadice.

Houston is well aware of the threat posed by Derek Adams' side, who are unbeaten in 39 league games going into their meeting on Tayside.

Like United, the First Division champions will go top of the table if they win.

County have already caused a few surprises in their first ever SPL season, including coming within seconds of beating Celtic, and the United manager would never dismiss them.

Houston said: "I have a lot of respect for what they are doing up there.

"They have a great set-up and a good manager and set of players.

"So the one thing we won't be doing is treating them lightly because they have just come up from the First Division.

"County are on great run of form at the moment.

"We have watched them on a number of occasions and the word coming back is that they're always very hard to beat.

"They get behind the ball well with the 4-5-1 system they have but they can hit you quickly on the counter-attack which we have to watch for on the night.

"So that makes it more difficult that we are the home team and have to try and take the game to them."

United are without winger Gary Mackay-Steven, who is recovering from a recent knee operation.

And Houston has told the home support to exercise some patience as they try and break down a resolute County defence.

Houston said: "It also doesn't help that we are without our best flair player at the moment with Gary Mackay-Steven being injured.

"We have gone through a wee spell over the last game or two since he went out where we have not had the creative spark that he brings us.

"So we will need to be dogged, hard-working and ensure that we are not vulnerable to Ross County's counter-attacks.

"The fans may need to be patient over the next couple of months as we have a few injuries.

"We are working with a very small squad and that would make it similar in many ways to last year.

"So the fans will have to patient but I can assure them, they will see a Dundee United team working their socks off."

Source: team_talk