Friday night's alright for Houston

Dundee United manager Peter Houston enjoyed the experience of Friday night football at Tannadice and would welcome a repeat. United drew 0-0 with Ross County in front of 6,892 fans in a match scheduled for Friday evening due to Dundee's home fixture with Motherwell today across the road at Dens Park. "It was good," Houston said. "If my games were every Friday night it wouldn't bother me. "The crowd were excellent and it was nice to see a good turnout. "The only reason we were playing on a Friday night were because Dundee were at home, but if they want to change our next fixtures the next time we're due to play at home to a Friday night, I'll play. "I liked it and I think the players liked it too." Houston was without last season's top scorer Jon Daly and winger Gary Mackay-Steven due to knee injuries. He bemoaned his side's lack of cutting edge, but was pleased with the impact of young players like Ryan Dow. Houston added: "Dow's been really, really unlucky. He's had to bide his time, simply because of the form of Gary Mackay-Steven. "He has been patient and he hasn't done himself any harm. "We need young talent from the Dundee United youth academy, because we haven't got any money to buy anybody and our squad is quite well depleted already. "We'll need to find another couple." Another with potential is 16-year-old Ryan Gauld, who came off the bench to cause a few moments of nervousness in a County defence seeking to extend their unbeaten league record to 40 matches. "He's a talented player, small in stature but talented," said Houston of Gauld. "The reason I brought him on is because he's got that wee bit of magic about him and can shift away from defenders, especially big defenders like the Ross County boys. "He made his debut on the last day of the season (against Motherwell) and he'll get more game time because he's a really fine talent and I'm excited about him." Ross County are unbeaten in six games since climbing into the top flight, but four of them have been goalless draws. Manager Derek Adams hopes to use the solid foundation to convert performances into victories. "We've got good players and a good understanding," he said. "If you have clean-sheets, it's always going to stand you in good stead. "We need to now kick on and win games."

Source: team_talk

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