Ross County V Hearts at Victoria Park : Match Preview

Ross County V Hearts - view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game live.


Adams 'wants to keep on winning'

Ross County manager Derek Adams is looking to keep his side's form going against Hearts and push up the table despite a major turnaround in players.

The Dingwall side will move up to seventh place in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League if they win at home on Saturday. .

Adams made his fifth signing of January when he brought in 22-year-old defender Branislav Micic on the final day of the transfer window.

Ross Tokely and Marc Fitzpatrick were both released to make it a total of nine players who have left the Global Energy Stadium this month.

But County have not been disturbed by the changes, as they go into Saturday's visit of Hearts unbeaten in 2013 and looking to leapfrog the Edinburgh side.

"It's great we are able to do these things," Adams said. "We just want to keep the momentum going.

"We have a lot to play for. We have to catch the likes of Hibernian.

"We have only lost two games at home this season. We have been resolute.

"It's difficult for us coming into the Premier League but we have acquitted ourselves well.

"We know how many points we want to achieve but this group of players just want to keep on winning."

One of the newcomers, Canada defender Andre Hainault, is looking for his debut having watched from the bench as County beat Hibs 1-0 on Wednesday after getting his work permit through.

"I'm looking forward to playing," he said. "I have been here for a month and knew I was going to sign here the best part of two or three weeks, so I have been itching to get on the field and help the guys.

"The games are coming up which I like and I'm looking forward to it.

"Things aren't so bad right now. We are slowly moving up the table and that's what we have to do - keep looking up and not down."

Adams is hopeful Ivan Sproule will recover from a hamstring injury in time.

The winger went off in the second half after scoring the winner against former club Hibernian.

Hearts midfielder Scott Robinson will sit out the trip as he completes his two-game ban.

The 20-year-old was shown a straight red card in last week's Scottish Communities League Cup semi-final at Easter Road after launching into a dangerous two-footed tackle on Inverness' Owain Tudur Jones.

He was hit with a two-game ban that took in the midweek win over Dundee as well as Saturday's meeting at the Global Energy Stadium.

Youngster Gordon Smith has recovered from a viral infection while Jamie Hamill will return to training after 10 months out with a ruptured cruciate ligament.

Hearts boss John McGlynn is not expecting an easy ride.

However, he knows the rewards are huge for a team just six points off city rivals Hibernian in fourth place and with two games in hand.

He said: "There is only one team being consistent at the moment and that is Celtic. But everyone else, from second bottom to second top, is pretty close. We are only eight points off of second place. That is possible.

"But we travel to Dingwall and Ross County have brought a few players in. They started the year with a 4-1 win over St Mirren, got a good draw at Tannadice and then a victory over Hibs, so they have had some start to 2013.

"It's not a gimme by any stretch of the imagination.

"This week is certainly up there as one of the most satisfying I've had in this job but a win at Ross County would make it even better."

Source : http://www.football.co.uk/ross_county/ross_county_v_hearts_at_victoria_park___match_preview_rss3686817.shtml