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Match report from the Dingwall Times on Saturday December 12th 2015

Classy Campbell stars in 7 goal showpiece thriller

Hamish Brodie reports:

It's fair to say that the Intercontinental cup is not very high on Ross County manager Adam Eckersley's list of priorities, but nonetheless he does admit that it would be nice to win it since he likes to make an effort to win every competition his club enters. That said, it didn't stop Eckersley ringing the changes as he rested most of his first team regulars, only Kevin Black, David Dunne, Kerr Dodds, John MacDonald and Michael Reid retained their places from County's full strength line-up for the previous match, Alan Reid returned from injury to play on the right wing also, with Steven Davidson, Alan Anderson, John Rankin, Kevin Watson and 17 year old ex-academy striker David Campbell all being drafted in to a make-shift libe-up to face Boca Juniors at the Yokohama Internation stadium.

A casual observer certainly would not have thought this was anything but a full strength County side however as the Dingwall side found themselves 0-3 up after just 23 minutes with a brilliant hat-trick from David Campbell, clearly eager to impress when he gets his chance in the side. His first certainly had an element of luck, is left footed free-kick taking a major deflection to fly into the Boca net, but his second was a very neat and assured finish from a Kevin Watson ball across the box and his 3rd was another precise finish from a curled Michael Reid cross.

Just before the break came the event which was to change the course of this game, if not the ultimate result, making it far more competitive than Ross County would have liked. Quite why County manager Adam Eckersley never seems to find room for a goalkeeper on the bench even amongst 7 subs is a bit of a mystery, but his propensity to trust to luck failed him today as 'keeper Kevin Black was stretchered off leaving Paul Harris to come on and keep goal. It was County who struck first after half time however to take a commanding 0-4 lead, Kevin Watson picking up the loose ball after Alan Reid was tackled to fire home. With a midfield player in goal County had to keep pouring forward though and Boca where quite happy to take advantage of the unskilled custudion between the posts as they fired in goals first from 30 yards, then from 25 yards before ading a 3rd on 74 minutes. Suddenly the result was beginning to look far less of a foregone conclusion, but to County's relief they managed to keep the Boca strikers away from and more shooting opportunities to hold on for a 3-4 victory and their first Inter-Continental Cup triump.

FT: Boca Juniors 3-4 Ross County

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Ross County v Boca Juniors whod have thought it :eek:

good result tho :thup:

retired_marcias

Thanks. I was a bit nervous in the last 15 minutes though as we did our best to throw away all of our 4-0 lead I even selected a goalkeeper on the bench for the next Champs League match against Ajax :p

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Summer 2016

Having somewhat abandoned my diaries in the latter half of this season I should update what has happened at Ross County since Christmas, but I will do so rather more briefly than usual. There's little point going over individual league results - we lost a few towards the end of the season, but by then we knew full well the title was ours and some players were rested and the usual end of season excuses come out. When the dust settled though, we had won our 7th successive SPL title and our 9th in 10 years. To add to that, domestically we saw off Nairn County (0-4), Dundee (0-2), Inverness Cally Thistle (1-0) and Dundee United (1-0) to setup a Scottish Cup final with Division 1 champions St. Johnstone. It wasn't as easy as many expected after Alan Reid's 16th minute opener and indeed St. Johnstone equalised on 54. It took a Julián Speroni own goal to re-ignite us as Ian MacSween bagged a 3rd 5 minutes from time to secure a 3-1 win and a domestic double.

All of which just leaves Europe and our 2nd defence of the Champions League title as we aimed to become the first team since the Ajax and Bayern Munich teams of the 1970's to complete a hat-trick of successive victories. I could go through each match of the knockout stage in detail, but I thin kon this occasion, the simple facts give the reader the full story for themslves to flesh out and see just how dramatic it all was. Manchester United, Brondby and Ajax had been in our group, but had all been dealt with sufficiently to see us emerge as group winners and setup a tie with Real Madrid in the 2nd Round and so here are the bare facts of the remainder of our European run for the season:

Round 2:

Real Madrid 1 (Tuncay 48)
Ross County 2 (MacSween 90 + 2', 90 + 4')

Ross County 3 (Rankin 13; Campbell 19,77)
Real Madrid 1 (Tuncay 82)

Aggregate: Ross County 5-2 Real Madrid


Quarter-final

FC Bayern Munich 2 (Feulner 10; Kellner 73)
Ross County 1 (Watson 90 + 1')

Ross County 5 (McGlynn 31, 57; MacSween 40, 41; James pen 54)
FC Bayern Munich 1 (Feulner 52)

Aggregate: Ross County 6-3 FC Bayern Munich


Semi-final

AC Milan 3 (Pazzini 38, 41; Manzo 68)
Ross County 1 (James pen 88)

Ross County 4 (James 28; McGlynn 47, 60; Alan Reid 78)
AC Milan 1 (Pazzini 11)

Aggregate: Ross County 5-4 AC Milan

Final

AS Monaco 0
Ross County 2 (Michael Reid 38; Watson 58)


So there it was, in at times quite sensational circumstances we had completed the hat-trick of European Cup successes. All I can say is that this bunch of lads have a nucleus who have played together for years and who grew up together and came through the Ross County youth academy with a few well considered additions from elsewhere and they will never give up a cause until it is truly lost - they have a passion and a spirit and a will to win for this club that has seen them take their place deservedly in history. I'm proud of you all.

On a sadder note, this Summer sees the retirement of one of Ross County's greatest and most loyal players - David Winters finally hangs up his boots after some 13 seasons at Ross County and he will be sorely missed. David had become a peripheral figure in the Ross County first team at the age of 34, but for what he has given to this club over the last 12-13 years he will forever be remembered as a loyal club servant and a fantastic player. It was remiss of me also to fail to pass comment last year on the retirements of 3 other players - Derek Riordan was only with us 2 seasons and failed to make the desired impact, retiring at the age of 32 last summer, but he was an excellent striker in his heyday and I just wish we had been able to sign him 5 years earlier. Keigan Parker was a great servant to this club also, scoring some crucial goals to backup Ian MacSween and Mark McGlynn over the seasons and appeared and scored for us in Champions League finals - he will be another who goes down in the Ross County history books as one of our best ever players. And the final word must go to the first signing I ever made as Ross County manager, back in Division 1 in 2004 when Ross O'Donoghue joined us and over the following 2 years played a huge part in driving our club forward in his creative midfield role as we reached for the promised land of the Premiership where O'Donoghue's talents could be displayed and appreciated by a wider audience as he helped guide us to a 3rd placed finish followed by the first of our many titles and our early forays into Europe. I know Ross was frustrated at being sidelined towards the end of his career when he still had a good few years left in him, but he knew that I have always given young talent a chance to shine and he was a beneficiary of that himself when he first joined as a 19 year old and I threw him in ahead of more experienced players. His impact on the development of Alan Reid and brother Michael Reid who took over his central midfield position in recent seasons cannot be under-estimated. Again, Ross I can truly say, from my heart that this club and myself especially miss having you around here - you were an inspiration to a whole generation of players and the driving force behind all that was good in Ross County's formative years in the top flight.

And now we move on to look ahead to the new season as 11 members of my squad return victorious from the Euro 2016 championships, albeit with a slightly bitter taste in the mouth for many who found themselves suspended from the final victory over Portugal. It was a fantastic tournament and a great victory for Scotland and my lasting memory of the tournament will be of Ian MacSween collecting the ball straight from the kick-off in the second period of extra time of the crucial and tense match against Italy to stride forward to the edge of the penalty area before unleashing an audacious chip over Gianluigi Buffon, who, even at 38 is unquestionably the best goalkeeper in the world.

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Match report from the Dingwall Times on Saturday August 13th 2016

Opening day Faroese nightmare for County

Hamish Brodie reports:

They may have a trophy cabinet glittering with 10 league and 10 cup trophies by now, but a new season always brings new challenges and for Ross County today the challenge came from 2 players whom their manager knows all too well. When County manager Adam Eckersley recommended a number of out of contract Faroese players to his friend and Dundee United boss he probably knew that one day they would come back to haunt him and today was that day as Dundee United played host to Ross County in a truly fantastic opening day encounter.

Fans of both sides had barely got bums on seats when Dundee United's Faroese striker Allan Andreasen latched onto a wonderful pass from young winger Paul Edwards in the 2nd minute to fire the home side infront with a fierce shot from the edge of the area. 6 minutes later, Andreasen was again on the scoresheet, this time timing his run to perfection to get on the end of a cross from his Faroese strike partner Jákup Poulsen for a 2-0 lead. County fought back with a neatly worked goal finished off by Ian MacSween in the 24th minute, but there was no stopping Allan Andreasen today as the pacey Faroe Islands striker completed his hat-trick just 4 minutes later, lashing home the rebound after Kevin Black blocked his initial effort. County were in no mood to lie down though and Alan Reid fed Ian MacSween who carried on where he had left off in Euro 2016 with a clinical finish on 34 minutes to send the two sides in 3-2 at the break.

The second half saw more end to end action and more goals as both side pushed on looking for goals. County were first to break the second half deadlock in the 69th minute, 16 year old centre-back Richard Lewis' powerful header from the halfway line being latched onto by 18 year old David Campbell who sidestepped the 'keeper to equalise. Dundee United hadn't finished however and it was now the turn of Jákup Poulsen to step into the limelight and pile the misery onto his international manager's club side with superbly taken goals on 78 and 90 minutes to give Dundee United a 5-3 opening day victory which sees them top the embrionic league table with Ross County in the rare position of being 11th.

With the two Dundee United strikers likely to be Eckersley first choice partnership for his Faroe Islands' team's assault on World Cup qualification he must be delighted on the one hand with the form the pair showed today, both in goalscoring and in linkingup play with each other - his suggestion of the pair as well as 5 other Faroe Islands players to the Dundee United manager clearly having the desired effect on their fitness and form, but unfortunately today it was against Eckersley's own club side. County will be fully expected to bounce back next week, but many are tipping Dundee United as dark horses this season after a solid 5th place finish under their new manager last season having narrowly avoided relegation at the end of the previous season.

FT: Dundee United 5-3 Ross County

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Author's note: For anyone following this story, but not my Faroese spin-off there will be some gaps in the story which are included in that story - most particularly - a) Euro 2016 which is covered in some detail in that story and b) I took over management of Dundee United at the end of the 2014/15 season with a new manager as they sat bottom of the SPL and I wanted a new challenge - in the summer of 2015 I noticed a lot of Faroese players unattached so decided to take 7 of them on frees to Dundee United in a move which I hoped would benefit both United and the Faroe Islands national side - since I'm managing Dundee United seriously, the Faroese players only play if they are performing, not solely to help my Faroe Islands quest!

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News report from the Dingwall Times on Sunday January 8th 2017

MacSween vows to fight back after career threatening injury

Hamish Brodie reports:

Ross County fans were today left contemplating the devastating news that striker and top scorer Ian MacSween will be out for the rest of the season after hobbling off in injury time of yesterday's 3-0 win over Hibernian with damaged cruciate ligaments. County were leading comfortably after Alan Anderson's opener and a 2nd half brace from Michael Reid as the match entered injury time when MacSween was hacked down with a scything tackle by Hibernian's Steven Whittaker. After the match, manager Adam Eckersley confirmed the bad news, stating that Ian MacSween would miss the rest of the season and wasn't expected to return for between 5 and 8 months.

At the Age of 32, some are speculating that this injury could spell the end of MacSween's career with the striker's 33rd birthday arriving before the start of next season. It is especially devastating news for the player who has finally started to win the caps he deserves for his country with the arrival of Brian Irvine as manager. MacSween was the star of Scotland's European Championship winning team as he netted a goal in the group stages and 5 crucial goals in the 3 knockout games, 4 of them coming in injury time, to win the golden boot. MacSween also scored 1 of the goals in Scotland's 1-2 win in the Ukraine in their World Cup qualifier to take his tally to 12 goals in 17 international caps and prove to the world what us here in Dingwall already knew - that he should have won far more caps over the last decade.

MacSween spoke briefly to the Dingwall Times today, confirming that he would miss the rest of the season with a long course of physiotherapy ahead of him if he is to be fit in time for the start of next season and possibly for Scotland's Confederations Cup campaign in late June. The player stated that he still feels he has a few years left of his career yet and is determined to play out the last 2 years of his Ross County contract and give his all to the club and the fans he loves. He also still hopes to figure for Scotland as they aim to qualify for the 2018 World Cup and vowed that he would come back fitter and more focused than ever before to get straight back into his prolific goalscoring form. MacSween has had a magnificent career so far at Ross County, holding the club record for goals scored and league goals with 190 league goals currently to his name and a superb 266 goals in total from 476 apperances, including 35 in 49 games last season.

MacSween finished on a positive note for both club and country however, telling fans that he already has a natural successor both for club and country who will take his place for the rest of the season and may well keep him out of the side when he returns. 22 year old Kevin Watson is a player in the same mold as MacSween, a superb dribbler and finisher with electrifying pace, a great deal of creativity and fantastic technique. MacSween commented that Watson has the talent and ability to break his scoring records for Ross County if he spends the better part of his career here and sees no reason why he can't go on to become one of Scotland's most prolific goalscorers ever having made a dazzling impact in Euro 2016, scoring 62 seconds into his debut and making it 3 in 3 caps with 2 goals against Norway.

We at the Dingwall Times would like to wish Ian MacSween all the best on behalf of his fans and hope he completes his recovery as fast as possible. We'll be eagerly awaiting your return next season Mr MacSween!

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Special feature from the Dingwall Times on Wednesday April 26th 2017

3 teams, 5 games, 1 championship: it starts here!

Hamish Brodie reports:

For the first time in many seasons the title race looks to be going down to the wire. In recent years, Ross County have had no contenders for their crown as they quite regularly had the title wrapped up by the split, but not this season. We take a look at the prospects for the last 5 games of the season as 3 teams fight for SPL glory with the table showing just how close the race is at the split as the top 6 match off against each other:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Holders - Ross County Pos Inf Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1st Ross County 33 20 6 7 74 39 +35 66 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2nd Falkirk 33 19 8 6 59 24 +35 65 3rd Dundee Utd 33 18 10 5 62 40 +22 64 4th Rangers 33 13 7 13 39 40 -1 46 5th Livingston 33 13 5 15 46 46 0 44 6th Celtic 33 11 11 11 40 46 -6 44 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7th Dundee 33 11 11 11 26 32 -6 44 8th Motherwell 33 11 8 14 50 61 -11 41 9th St. Johnstone 33 9 10 14 39 43 -4 37 10th Clyde 33 8 13 12 36 41 -5 37 11th Hibs 33 9 5 19 43 68 -25 32 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12th Kilmarnock 33 2 14 17 19 53 -34 20 </pre>


Dundee United

The surprise package of this season, Dundee United have been a breath of fresh air to the SPL title. They beat Ross County 5-3 on the opening day of the season and haven't looked back since, beating the Dingwall side again at Victoria Park in the 2nd round of fixtures as well as some other impressive performances including a 2-5 victory at Celtic Park and a 5-1 demolition of Hibernian. After disappointingly losing in the 1st round of the UEFA Cup, a League Cup Quarter Final defeat to St. Mirren and a humiliating 1-5 reverse in the FA Cup 3rd round at Falkirk, Dundee United will be looking to finish the league season strongly to push the two more favoured teams all the way.

Falkirk

If Ross County manager Adam Eckersley is the best manager in Scotland over the last decade then Falkirk's John Carver is a close second. Old adversaries of County's from their Division 1 days, Falkirk eventually escaped Division 1 in 2008 and their performances since have been sensational. After finishing 5th in their first season in the SPL, the club have recorded four 2nd place finishes in the last 6 years, finishing top half in the other 2. Of all the teams in the SPL Falkirk have caused Ross County the most problems over the years and must surely fancy their chances for the title this year having twice won at Victoria Park this season as well as recording 2 wins out of 3 against Dundee United. In Europe as well as domestically Falkirk have moved onto a new level, making the quarter-finals of the Champions league for the last 2 years running. Runners up in the League Cup twice in the last 6 years and the Scottish cup twice in the last 11 years, Falkirk are clearly a team to be taken seriously and have their best chance ever of winning the top flight for the first time in their history.

Ross County

Ross County started the season off the boil and have never really got fully back to the kind of form they have shown in recent seasons. County have lost 7 games so far this season, more than any season since 2009/10. Back to back defeats against Falkirk and Livingston following after the opening defeat at Dundee United saw the club lose 3 of their first 7 matches as they struggled to find their form. The national media had a field day with talk of a crisis in Dingwall, but manager Adam Eckersley rejected such talk, pointing out that even the best clubs have bad spells and football tends to be cyclic with team's long reigns eventually coming to an end. Nonetheless, there is no doubting Ross County's wish to win their 8th successive title as they chase the elusive 10 in a row. The loss of hotshot striker Ian MacSween for half the season was a huge blow to the club with key winger Alan Reid also missing for the start of the season when County were at their most vulnerable. The most devastating day of Ross County's season came earlier this month however with the result that sent shockwaves through the world of football - to win 4 Champions League titles in a row was always going to be a tough ask, but no-one could possibly have predicted that having won the first leg 4-0 at home, Ross County would come away from Old Trafford with a record-breaking 10-1 defeat on a night that left the whole club in a state of shock and their European dreams shattered. Having beaten Celtic 3-1 in the League Cup final, County took out their European frustrations on Falkirk in their Scottish Cup semi-final as they trounced their opponents 5-1 on a magical night at Hampden Park to setup a final against St. Johnstone. The league cup and Inter-continental cup could be Ross County's only pieces of silverware this season or they could complete a domestic treble - the next few weeks will reveal all as County go head to head with their great rivals Falkirk again whilst Dundee United will look to upset the pair of them.

Keep with the Dingwall Times for match by match updates as the SPL title goes to the wire.

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Match round-up of week 34 from the Dingwall Times on Saturday April 29th 2017

Hamish Brodie reports:

Falkirk turn on the style at United's expense

Falkirk dealt a potentially fatal blow to Dundee United's title hopes in a one-sided encounter at the Falkirk Stadium today. Former Ross County striker Andy Williams netted his 17th and 18th league goals of the season taking his total tally to 26 in all competitions to put Falkirk into a commanding 2-0 lead at half time. United rarely threatened the Falkirk goal in a surprisingly lethargic performance with their 44 goal strike partnership of Allan Andreasen and Jákup Poulsen only managing a shot between them with a total lack of service from their midfield. The sending off of John Robertson on 82 minutes didn't dent Falkirk's charge as David Daly wrapped up the victory in the 89th minute

Falkirk 3 (Williams 1, 45; Daly 89; Robertson s/o 82)
Dundee United 0


Glasgow gloom for profligate County

With 19 shots on goal at Celtic Park, County must have wondered what went wrong today as their title challenge took another hammer blow against a wounded Celtic side, eager to remind the anyone watching that they are the biggest club in Scotland. As Andy Williams netted in the opening minute for Falkirk, so Daniel Braathen gave Celtic the perfect start inside 25 seconds to send the home fans wild. County had by far the more chances, but strikers Mark McGlynn and Kevin Watson were unusually firing blanks with Alan Reid and Richard Rhodes failing to truly sparkle on the wings. As the second half kicked off, Celtic repeated their trick of scoring in the opening seconds, Yordan Spasov this time lashing in a 30-yard effort after just 20 seconds. County threw on attacking substitutes, but their day was summed up by one of them, Eddie Pilkington receiving a red card 10 minutes from the end as no fewer than 7 Ross County players had efforts on goal. As the full time whistle came there was misery in the away end and ecstasy in the home end. One rather interesting statistic for Ross County - whilst Kevin Watson managed to win just 1 of the 22 headers he contested with the Celtic defence, Alan Reid out on the right wing won 18 out of 18 headers, yet still failed to produce a goal.

Celtic 2 (Braathen 1, Spasov 46)
Ross County 0 (Pilkington s/o 80)

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Match round-up of week 34 from the Dingwall Times on Wednesday May 3rd 2017

Hamish Brodie reports:

Stunning Celtic comeback hammers final nails in United coffin

Today surely saw the final nail hammered into the coffin of Dundee United's title dreams as Celtic produced a stunning comeback at Tannadice Park. Dundee United looked lively in the first half and took the lead through Mark Kerr followed by a delicious one-two between Rúni Hansen and Allan Andreasen setting up the Faroese striker for United's second which saw them leading 2-0 at half time. It was a very different Celtic that came out for the second half however and Gonzalo Vargas gave the visitors hope with a 59th minute goal. The away side then took total control, equalising through Yordan Spasov who is certainly making his mark on the title race before a devastating injury time winner from Stefano Mezzacapo. The Dundee United players were on their knees at the end of the game wondering just how they threw away a golden opportunity to fight for the title to the very end.

Dundee United 2 (Kerr 14; Andreasen 33)
Celtic 3 (Vargas 58, Spasov 79, Mezzacapo 90)


Rangers spoil Falkirk party at Ibrox

Andy Williams was at it again at Ibrox today, netting the opening goal in a close affair as Falkirk led 0-1 at half time. With a 2 point lead over Ross County at the top of the table, things were looking rosy for Falkirk but it didn't last into the second half. Glasgow Rangers have squeezed their way into the top 6 this season after 3 seasons fighting relegation and have clearly improved somewhat over those past seasons. It was veteran striker Jerome Thomas who threw a spanner in Falkirk's works with a well-taken equaliser in the 73rd minute and despite chances Falkirk failed to grab a winner.

Rangers 1 (Thomas 73)
Falkirk 1 (Williams 35)


Captain fantastic heads County to narrow victory

County fans have been worried about their club's form of late and today wasn't about to change that as they struggled to overcome a Livingston side bereft of ideas or any serious intent to attack the County goal. Livingston did create a few goalscoring chances, but without their talisman Jerome Gomez they failed to put any of them away. County too were not exactly firing on all four cylinders as they again created the chances, but were found wanting when it came to finding the back of the net, Michael Reid firing 3 shots high and wide, while Kevin Watson and Paul Harris saw 2 shots apiece well saved. So it fell to the club captain and inspiration, playing in midfield of late, but back in defence today to raise County from their gloom. On 64 minutes, Mark McGlynn whipped in a corner and Nick James rose above the Livingston defence to head home what could prove to be a priceless winner which sees County move level on points again with Falkirk, albeit with a 4 goal inferior goal difference