County's Mr Flexible willing to put himself about for much-needed points

Ross County's Chris Routis says it's been a long time since he's played in goal, but it's perhaps one of the few place he wouldn't turn up on the pitch.

The defender (or should that be midfielder?) has been utilised in several positions at County, but admits it's not since he was a boy that he's played between the sticks.

"From the early stages of my career I always hear that I am a flexible player, I can play different positions, I've played right-back, midfield, centre-back, so I play different positions and it's not a problem for me"

Routis said: "I quite like centre midfield, and I like to go forward as well, but I don't have a big preference I'll always give my best wherever I play"

"I'm not the sort of player to question the manager"

"The manager's spoken to me and switched with Jim O'Brien and said he wants to see me in the box. I'm not the sort of player to question the manager, or get in a bad mood, or say, "No, I'm much better here", I always believe it must be for a reason and I suppose it paid off last time against Kilmarnock"

Tuesday saw an impressive first half showing against Kilmarnock, but sadly a second-half collapse meant a share of the spoils.

Routis sums up the feeling in the County camp: "When you're 2-0 up at home at half-time, and then lose two points, it's simply not acceptable. The football we played in the first half we deserved the three points, but that's the thing, we need to play for the 90 minutes"

"The manager has spoken to us about this and we need to give everything on the pitch - that's twice in a row now - we did the same against Rangers. We need to learn and we need to learn quickly, because that could cause a big problem in the league"

It would appear as though even his opening goal in the 2-2 draw with Killie didn't help ease the pain of the dropped points.

"It's always nice to score, but I'd prefer the three points, as a midfielder I need to score and I feel all our midfield needs to help the team as much as possible and score goals, but the win would've been better"

County now find themselves a point behind Saturday's hosts, who went down 3-1 at Celtic, with the Staggies now entering a key stage in the season and hoping to build up some festive momentum.

"This match Saturday is really important at Hamilton, the league has been strange so far, and it's been hard to get points to give us as much chance as possible to move up the table before the break"