Ross County’s Dylan Smith says learning from defenders like Declan Gallagher can help raise his standards

Ross County defender Dylan Smith feels he’s been lucky to have already had a string of experienced pros he has learned from at just 19.

The Scotland under-21 player has broken into the Dingwall team’s starting XI in recent weeks, making seven starts in all competitions.

Since Smith rose into contention in recent years as a highly-rated teenager, players such as Jack Baldwin, Keith Watson, Alex Iacovitti, Kacper Lopata and Akil Wright have been some of the key figures to learn from at the back.

Iacovitti returned for a second spell this season after most recently being with St Mirren and former Aberdeen defender Declan Gallagher also signed for County, having been part of a Dundee United team which finished fourth in last year’s top-flight.

‘Learning from Declan’s leadership’

When asked about how having someone like captain Gallagher beside him can further help his development, he said: “I’ve been lucky to play with a lot of experienced centre-halves.

“Obviously Declan is one – he has played for a lot of good teams in the Premiership and helped Dundee United into Europe last season.

“It’s only a positive for me that I can play alongside him and learn leadership from him.

“I’ve been working really hard in training to get my spot back in the team.

“I know I’ve got some good centre-halves in front of me, and when the new manager came in I had to bide my time when I wasn’t the first pick.

“I’ve got back in, and I think I have been performing well, so I just have to carry this on now.”

‘We know we can do much better’

Last Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat against Airdrieonians sent County to the foot of the Championship.

A much-changed side showed up well on Tuesday when they saw off Celtic B 4-0 in the second round of the Challenge Cup to secure a shot at Hearts B or St Johnstone next month. 

This weekend, they travel to seventh-placed Raith Rovers, needing to find league wins regularly to dig themselves out of trouble.

Smith sees no reason why the steady climb back up the table towards the top four cannot begin at Starks Park.

He said: “We know we can do much better, and we know we’ve got a good team with the players we’ve got.

“I’m positive we can turn it around. Once that first win comes in the league, which will hopefully be this Saturday, we will build on that and start looking up the table.

“It hasn’t been nice, but it gives us motivation to get back to where we were in the Premiership, because I think we’re a Premiership-level team.

“This season has been tricky, but hopefully we’ll get a win on Saturday and then we can start looking up the league by taking all the positives from it.”

Looking for first away day victory

Docherty’s first win in charge of County after replacing Don Cowie came in a 2-0 result in early October against Raith Rovers, who have since replaced their boss Barry Robson with Dougie Imrie, who recently won 3-0 in Dingwall as Morton head coach.

Smith hopes County can secure their first away league victory this season.

He added: “We’ll keep it in mind that we’ve already beaten Raith, but we know they will be a good test on Saturday.

“We need to win that game on their astro pitch. It will be a tricky place to go, but I’m sure we’ve got enough to go and get the win.

“We know there will be a good amount of travelling fans there on Saturday, so we need to give them something to cheer about.

“We know the first goal will be massive, so hopefully we can get it for them.”

[Source: Press and Journal]