Ross County’s Connor Randall: Players are 'embarrassed' as 4-0 Airdrieonians defeat leaves Staggies in deep trouble

Connor Randall admits Ross County’s 4-0 home defeat against relegation rivals Airdrieonians to send the Staggies bottom of the Championship was an “embarrassment”.

With a performance and result described by boss Stuart Kettlewell as “the worst in the club’s history”, given what was at stake, the Diamonds moved above County into ninth spot – two points clear with a game in hand.

County, who travel to Queen’s Park this Friday, have just four matches left to try and avoid a second successive relegation, with clawing their way back above Airdrie into the play-off place looking like their only possible escape route now.

Queen’s Park and Morton, who are seventh and eighth, are eight points clear of County and six points ahead of Airdrie.

‘We have to dig in and show fight’

Long-time servant Randall, who helped the Dingwall club secure a top half Premiership finish just four years ago, reacted to Kettlewell’s stinging full-time assessment.

He said: “You can’t get much more of a painful statement than that from the manager.

“Being a part of that has to hurt all of us as a squad.

“It’s an embarrassment really. I’ve said it before, we can say what we want, but we haven’t performed all season.

“The boys that have been out there, boys who haven’t been involved – it’s everyone. We’re not contributing what we need to, and that puts us where we are.

“We have to dig in. We have to show fight and show something to try and get ourselves out of this situation.

“Being honest, right now it doesn’t look good, of course it doesn’t.

“We knew how big this game was, and to be beaten shows how much of a dangerous position we’re in.”

County have ‘no margin for error’

Defender/midfielder Randall, who joined the Highlanders in July 2020, is closing in on 200 appearances for the Staggies.

There’s now no margin for error in the team’s bid to beat the drop, and he said: “There hasn’t been for a while. We’ve had enough warnings, and we only have four games left.

“I can say what I want, but words mean nothing now. The lads have had 30-odd games, and we’re still not performing how we need to.

“It’s a tough place to be. It’s sore and it’s embarrassing, and it’s not anywhere near where we want this club to be.

“We have to take our medicine, which we deserve, and show a bit of heart over the next four games.

“We’re fighting for our lives, so we have to do something to dig ourselves out of the terrible position we find ourselves in.”

‘We’ve let the club down again’

County were 2-0 down in less than 20 minutes and it was 3-0 by the interval.

Randall accepts that conceding a goal as early as the fourth minute heaped the pressure on in what was already a high-stakes clash for the Staggies.

He added: “I think quite clearly it was a shocking performance.

“To go in 3-0 at half-time in a game that’s so important is inexcusable.

“We’ve let the club down week after week this season, and when you start a game like that in the position we’re in, and have been all season, we don’t give ourselves a chance.

“It’s obviously massively disappointing, and we’ve let the club down again.

“We’re in the position we’re in because it’s been a constant all season that we haven’t been good enough.”

[Source: Press and Journal]