retired_marcias

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Holders - Ross County| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Ross County | | 36 | 20 | 10 | 6 | 80 | 40 | +40 | 70 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Clyde | | 36 | 20 | 9 | 7 | 71 | 45 | +26 | 69 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Raith Rovers | | 36 | 17 | 7 | 12 | 73 | 64 | +9 | 58 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Morton | | 36 | 17 | 3 | 16 | 62 | 55 | +7 | 54 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Queen of Sth. | | 36 | 13 | 11 | 12 | 53 | 54 | -1 | 50 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | St. Johnstone | | 36 | 12 | 10 | 14 | 57 | 66 | -9 | 46 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Falkirk | | 36 | 12 | 9 | 15 | 54 | 66 | -12 | 45 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Partick Thistle | | 36 | 13 | 2 | 21 | 50 | 76 | -26 | 41 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | R | Brechin | | 36 | 11 | 5 | 20 | 59 | 67 | -8 | 38 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | R | Stenhousemuir | | 36 | 10 | 4 | 22 | 51 | 77 | -26 | 34 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_marcias

Ross County Season Preview from the Dingwall Times on Wednesday 10th August 2005

David Winters speaks excusively to Dingwall Times on new season

Hamish Brodie reports:

With just 3 days to go until the new season kicks off Ross County fans are cautiously optimistic that their team can stay in the SPL this season rather than follow Ayr United who cashed in their return ticket to Division 1 at the first opportunity.

Title odds released by Skybet see Celtic named 4-5 favourites for the SPL, with Rangers at 6-4, Hearts at 10-1 and Hibernian at 20-1. Ross County have been given odds of 100-1 and are clear favourites for relegation with the bookies. The lack of any major signings at Victoria Park leads the outside world to believe the club stand little chance. Manager Adam Eckersley however is a firm believer in his club's young players and has a number of promising players coming through the youth ranks.

On the transfer front, Summer saw the signings of Ian MacSween from Falkirk for £75,000 and Keith Gibson from Raith Rovers for £85,000 - both fees to be paid mostly in instalments and with future additional fees based on performance.

MacSween is is a quick young striker with excellent on the ball running and finishing ability and came to the attention of Ross County fans by scoring Falkirk's 2 extra time goals in the 4-4 cup draw at Victoria Park last season. Gibson is more of an unknown factor, but manager Adam Eckersley commented on announcing the signing that he is a highly creative midfielder with good dribbling skills and an eye for goal.

With a big reliance on the club's young players this season, a huge responsibility will fall on the shoulders of the club's more experienced players to guide these youngsters through the season. Of those experienced players, a lot will be expected of star winger David Winters whose goals and assists, many from pinpoint corners were a major feature of County's successful promotion season. I spoke to David at the Ross County training ground yesterday to get his opinions on the new season:

Hamish: David, most of the national media are giving Ross County no chance this season. Do you feel the squad has enough quality to stay in the SPL?

David: To be honest Hamish, we would expect the media to write us off as the newly promoted side, but we take no notice of that. We're confident that we will surprise a lot of people this season. We have more quality than peole think and a lot of good young players coming through.

Hamish: A lot of responsibility will be on your shoulders this season having been the main provider of goals in the last 2 seasons as well as scoring a fair few. How do you see your role this season?

David: I don't think we should focus too much on individuals Hamish. Of course people will expect me to continue my form of the last 2 seasons and my own expectations and standards are probably even higher than what others expect of me, but we are a team and everyone plays their part. I'm only 23 so still relatively young, but I know I will be expected to act as an inspiration for our younger players and I will do so.

Hamish: What are your thoughts on the club's 2 new signings?

David: They'll be good. The gaffer doesn't like spending money so when he does you know that he thinks highly of the players he signs!

Hamish: Who do you think will be the younger players to look out for at the club this season?

David: I don't want to put pressure on our younger players by naming individuals so you'll have to wait to see who performs well or go and watch the under 19s more often Hamish ;-) It's no surprise though that Nick James established himself as a key player last season so I imagine he'll feature and continue to improve this year too.

Hamish: Well, good luck for the season David and keep those corners fizzing in! Any score prediction for us for the season opener against your old club Dundee Utd?

David: Thanks Hamish. So long as the gaffer allows me to keep taking the corners and penalties I'll do my best with them. As for Dundee United...I'd like to beat my old club of course, but we'll see how it goes!

retired_marcias

Match report from the Dingwall Times on Saturday August 13th 2005

Bitter-sweet victory for County in SPL opener

Hamish Brodie reports:

Jubilant Ross County fans today celebrated as their club won it's first ever SPL match at the first attempt, but they had to come from behind and got a sharp introduction to SPL football.

With just 3 minutes on the clock, Danny Griffin thundered in a left-footed freekick to give visitors Dundee United the lead. United continued to look lively as the first half progressed and County 'keeper Craig Samson had to be at his absolute best to deny Colin Samuel and send County in just 1 goal down at half time.

County manager Adam Eckersley clearly wasn't happy with what he saw in the first half and brought on John Rankin at the start of the second half in place of the ineffectual Sergei Baltacha. Both teams were creating chances and the second goal would be crucial to the outcome. County won a corner in the 59th minute which was whipped in by debutant David Dunne, a 16 year old product of the club's youth system from the summer, John Rankin rising at the near post to head home the equaliser.

County continued to play positively, not satisfied with a single point, but had to rely on Craig Samson on far too many occasions to keep them from going behind again. It was the home side who made the next breakthrough though as David Winters swung in a testing cross. With Dunne and debutant Gibson seemed unwilling to take responsibility the ball fell to right-back Kerr Dodds who smashed in a trade-mark goal from the edge of the area to give Ross County this first ever victory in the SPL.

FT: Ross County 2-1 Dundee United (5380 Attendance)

There was disappointing news for County though after the match as manager Adam Eckersley confirmed that winger David Winters was likely to be out for 2 months with a groin strain. With no obvious replacement for Winters on the right wing it remains to be seen who Eckersley calls on to fill the role which David McGuire occasionally deputised in last season. Rumours suggest that Eckersley will continue with his policy of blooding products of the youth system and give 16 year old Simon Williams, who has been capped for his country at schoolboy level, a debut.

retired_marcias

Wednesday 2nd November 2005

The step from Division 1 to the SPL has been very tough - rather more so than I had hoped. We began well, coming from behind to record an opening day victory over Dundee United, losing narrowly 2-1 at Dunfirmline and drawing 2-2 at home to Motherwell. Not brilliant, but comfortably enough to see us mid table amongst the pack.

It would be too simplistic to blame the collapse after that on the injury to David Winters, but undoubtably the loss of such a key player was a big blow. We replaced him with a 16 year old from the youth academy to begin with - a bold and ultimately a bad move. I have high hopes for young Simon Williams for the future, but to throw him into a struggling side as a 16 year old and ask him to replace Winters was too much for the lad and after a couple of good performances including a goal and 2 assists he found it hard to make an impact.

Defeats, 3-0 at Hibs, 1-5 at home to Rangers and 3-1 at Dundee followed and any early season optimism around the club had been well and truly flushed away - this is going to be a tough season. On the touchline I was tearing my hair out at some of our play. When I asked the players to close down constantly they stood off and allowed the opposition to run at them, when I asked them to tackle hard and do everything to win the ball, they just didn't throw themselves in there and when they had the ball they gave it away far too often.

I even considered resigning after that 3rd defeat in a row. Not because our league position warranted it, just because our play was so appalling that I just couldn't see any way I could take the team forward if they just wouldn't show some commitment for the cause and try to win and keep the ball. Of course, when I woke up the next morning, the thoughts of resigning were replaced by a gritty determination to turn the situation around so I switched tactics to a 5-2-1-2 formation for the visit of Livingston.

It didn't look like a good plan though as Burton O'Brien gave Livi a second half lead, but with an equaliser from young left full-back David Dunne on 66 minutes, the team began to believe again. That was Dunne's first career goal and I was delighted for him - the crowd love him since he's a product of our youth system. I can't remember ever celebrating a goal as much as substitute Ian MacSween's first for the club though - with 92 minutes on the clock I'd accepted a draw, but Martin Canning played a sensational 45-yard pass through the Livi defence to put MacSween clear and the ex-Falkirk striker showed all the clinical finishing he had against us last season. I was punching the air and jumping up with delight on the touchline. I'd hope none of the fans ever questioned my commitment, but if they did, they could see how much that goal meant to me.

Our variations of the 5-3-2 formation didn't prove very successful after that though as Forfar came and dumped us out of the league cup on our own ground before visits to Kilmarnock and Aberdeen yielded no goals as we crashed 3-0 and 1-0 in truly abysmal performances. The cup defeat really disappointed me - we keep losing cup games we should win. Last season's Falkirk match is a perfect example - had we won, our route to the final against Celtic would have been Dumbarton (h), Raith Rovers (h), Albion Rovers (n)...if only!

David Winters returned from injury for the trip to Aberdeen and I played him upfront in that formation, but he had a shocker. He needs to regain match fitness really and it was a lot to ask of him to play in a slightly unusual position after 2 months out. I reverted to 4-4-2 for the home match against Hearts with Winters back on the right wing. After a shocking start when Mark de Vries scored within 3 minutes, we took control and goals from Steven McGarry, David Winters and man of the match Nick James saw us to a well-deserved 3-1 win. Celtic at Celtic Park was next and we were always going to lose...much to the shock of the 50,000+ in the stadium however, Jamie McCunnie sent us in a goal up at the break, but an equaliser from Larsson and a heart-breaking injury time winner from Stilian Petrov meant we went away with a lot of credit, but with 0 points.

On a positive note, our Reserves and U19 teams are 4th and 3rd in their respective leagues and some of our youngsters look promising for the future. No doubt many won't make the grade, but if a few do then we'll be doing well. Nick James from my first crop of youngsters has firmly established himself in the first team now and won young player of the month for October as he also signed his first professional contract on his 17th birthday. He is improving rapidly with every match and is a undoubtably a star in the making. Of our other youth team products, David Dunne is featuring regularly as mentioned while Simon Williams and John MacDonald have returned to the U19s to develop further.

Financially, the club is in a worrying position. With expenditures of ~£225,000 last month matched by income of only £40,000 Archie is very concerned about the club's future.

retired_marcias

Hmm, oh yeah I forgot the league table...shame I've played another game since then - I was 11th :p

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Holders - CelticPos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts 1st Celtic 11 9 2 0 27 6 +21 29 2nd Rangers 12 9 1 2 24 10 +14 28 3rd Dundee 12 5 3 4 17 14 +3 18 4th Motherwell 12 5 3 4 20 20 0 18 5th Aberdeen 11 4 5 2 13 11 +2 17 6th Dunfermline 12 5 2 5 15 15 0 17 7th Dundee Utd 12 5 1 6 14 14 0 16 8th Hibs 12 4 3 5 13 18 -5 15 9th Livingston 12 3 2 7 14 20 -6 11 10th Hearts 12 3 2 7 18 26 -8 11 11th Kilmarnock 12 3 1 8 18 27 -9 10 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12th Ross County 12 3 1 8 13 25 -12 10 </pre>

retired_marcias

Saturday 28th January 2006

It's been a very busy couple of months up at Ross County and the fact that I'm sitting here now feeling so irritated that we just drew with Celtic might give some indication as to the change in our fortunes.

I haven't put a 'keeper on the bench all season which is always a risk of course, but it's one I've tended to take, but today it blew up big time as Craig Samson was stretchered off with us leading Celtic 2-0. 16 year old Paul Harris, another product of our youth system who has played very well since getting his chance had put us in front with a crisp volley from a delicious passing move and with Ian MacSween heading in at the near post from a Dunne corner I had high hopes that we could inflict the first defeat of the season on the mighty Celtic. But then the big blow - Samson off and we had to bring on Steven McGarry to play in goal. He's a good striker, but between the sticks...our only chance was to pour forward and keep trying to score because I knew Celtic would score if they got a sight of goal and they did. Petrov fed Sutton who crossed for Larsson to put away...maybe Samson wouldn't have saved it, but it's acadamic now. We held on and created chances until the 93rd minute when Celtic broke upfield and Larsson was sent clear, one on one with McGarry. 2-2 was a good result in itself, extending an unbeaten run, but we were so close to a magnificent 3 points

But I've continued the story from the end, as it were, I must now return to early November as we sat bottom of the SPL, albeit in a very tight division after a late defeat at Dundee United. We were only 8 points off 3rd despite being bottom, but the way we were playing we might as well have been 80 points behind. A disappointing 1-1 home draw with Dunfirmline was followed by a gutsy 2-2 at Motherwell which at least saw us off the bottom of the table thanks to Jim Hamilton scoring an 89th minute penalty with our 2nd shot of the game - so far it's his only contribution to the season, but form-wise and confidence-wise it was perhaps pivotal.

An excellent 3-0 win over Hibs followed in a very even match with Robertson and MacSween joined on the scoresheet by Kerr Dodds who side-stepped the 'keeper with great compusure for a right-back!

It was an unhappy Christmas in Dingwall though (in footballing terms of course!) as a 4-0 thumping at Ibrox was followed by a damaging 2-3 home defeat by Dundee. There was still time to pull out of it of course and the division was amazingly close with just a handful of points covering the bottom half of the table, but when all was said and done, it was us that were bottom and if we were there come the end of the season, we'd be down, however close we were on points to 7th place!

New Year brought hope with it as a Keith Robertson brace saw us to our first away win of the season in our last game of 2005 at Livingston - it was a match that Livi dominated, but Robertson's cool finishing won us the day. We didn't know it at the time, but that was the first of a run of 4 straight wins that was to take us from 12th up into 6th place with a chance to go 5th had we beaten Celtic.

MacSween (twice), Winters and Robertson saw us to our biggest win of the season, 4-1 at home to Kilmarnock before Aberdeen were sent packing 3-0 with goals from 3 less likely scorers. Paul Harris scored his first ever senior goal with a sensational half-volley from outside the area as he settled into a midfield role on promotion from the U19s, Kevin McCallion, recently recalled on the left wing after our experiments with Callum Kane and John Rankine there hadn't been too successful, added a second and Kerr Dodds fired in another superb 25-yarder.

We were drawn away to Celtic in the FA Cup which was a huge disappointment and though we really took the game to them, winning 2 corners in the opening minute and playing them off the park for parts of the second half, their clinical finishing proved decisive and we went out 3-1. On the plus side, we gained ~£500k in gate receipts.

Next up was a trip to Hearts with us eager to maintain our form and move into the top 6 with another away win. 1-0 down at half time to a Mark de Vries strike though it looked as though our win at Livi was a one-off. However, Steven McGarry came on for the injured David Winters as we pushed forward with a 4-2-4 formation and after scoring the first with a 30-yard freekick, McGarry then headed on for Ian MacSween to fire home before Andy Kirk turned the ball into his own net from a County corner as we ran out 1-3 winners.

2-0 up against Celtic and we were heading into a remarkable 5th place...as it is we are still 6th which is a great achievement so far, but we must maintain our good form and make sure we push on from here - we could still end up in a relegation battle, but we could also squeeze into a top 6 finish come the all important split if we can keep going.

With 3 home games from our next 4, we are hopeful that our progress can be continued. The side looks a lot more assured now than we did earlier in the season. Nick James gets better with every game and is brilliant at the back. Our other youngsters are acquitting themselves well too and Ian MacSween and Keith Robertson are developing a good partnership upfront. The Reserves are down to 6th in their league, but more importantly, the U19s are 2nd to Celtic in their championship which bodes well for the future.

The Celtic cup match gave a welcome injection to our finances which should see us through the season still in the black, but our small ground capacity and support is really causing us problems, allied to high travel costs and other expenses.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Holders - Celtic Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts 1st Rangers 22 17 2 3 49 18 +31 53 2nd Celtic 22 14 8 0 46 13 +33 50 3rd Dundee 22 10 5 7 31 29 +2 35 4th Dunfermline 22 9 6 7 34 25 +9 33 5th Aberdeen 22 7 9 6 20 24 -4 30 6th Ross County 22 8 4 10 35 40 -5 28 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7th Dundee Utd 22 7 5 10 26 33 -7 26 8th Livingston 22 6 5 11 32 34 -2 23 9th Motherwell 22 5 8 9 35 42 -7 23 10th Hibs 22 6 5 11 24 39 -15 23 11th Kilmarnock 22 5 6 11 35 45 -10 21 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12th Hearts 22 4 5 13 25 50 -25 17 </pre>

[This message was edited by glamdring on 15 February 2004 at 20:29.]

[This message was edited by glamdring on 15 February 2004 at 20:30.]

[This message was edited by glamdring on 15 February 2004 at 20:30.]

retired_marcias

Saturday 22nd April 2006

Our form over the last couple of months has been somewhat up and down, with unexpected results, both good and bad, popping up out of nowhere.

We followed up on our draw with Celtic by extending our unbeaten league run with a comfortable 3-1 win over Dundee United, 20 shots on goal in total and goals from Robertson, O'Donoghue and MacSween, before the wheels fell off a little.

In a tight match away to Dunfirmline, Ian MacSween cancelled out Derek Young's opener before half time, but Young stuck again in the second half to end our unbeaten run. We then welcomed league leaders Glasgow Rangers to Victoria Park and the difference between a big team and a small team showed - we played them off the park with superb passing and 14 shots on goal in the match, but they had 4 shots on target and netted 3 of them while we took none of our chances.

Motherwell were the next visitors to Victoria Park and we really needed to get back on our feet and win this if we were to entertain any hopes of a top 6 finish. Young Paul Harris gave us the perfect start on 6 minutes when he scrambled the ball home from a scrappy corner. 12 minutes before the break, Steven McGarry swung a freekick into the box which Motherwell struggled to clear. Ross O'Donoghue collected and shielded the ball before turning and firing a shot through a ruck of bodies past the unsighted 'keeper for a 2-0 win.

Our trips to Hibernian and Dundee showed the difference between those teams at the top and those at the bottom. Hibs competed well, but County looked composed and assured as they passed the ball around, creating numerous chances. Morten Hyldegaard saved a penalty from Nick James early on, but 10 minutes later David Winters collected a brilliant cross-field pass from David Dunne to run clear and shoot past Hyldegaard in the Hibs' goal. A second half penalty by Nick James made up for his first half miss and gave us the 3 crucial points. A week later in Dundee we played an excellent game, but were undone by an injury time winner by Caballero for 3rd placed Dundee.

With a top 6 place there for the taking, the players rose to the challenge, knowing also that 4th and 5th places were also up for grabs and even 3rd if Dundee were to slip up. 3 goals in the last 10 minutes gave us victory over a Livingston side who came to defend and precious little else. At the end of March we visited Rugby Park where we had been beaten 3-0 earlier in the season. The change in our fortunes was very clear as this time we ran out 0-4 winners with all the goals and the points wrapped up in the first half.

First match in April was to be a crucial encounter. Aberdeen in 4th were 3 points above us and with a slightly better goal difference and we had to visit Pittodrie as Aberdeen sat top of the current form table. We were second in that same form table though and bouyed by our big win at Kilmarnock. By half time we were 0-2 up and playing well - Dodds rampaging down the right, feeding Winters who crossed for Ian MacSween to tap in followed by a measured far post finish by Winters from a floating cross by McCallion. Paul Sheerin struck a brilliant freekick in the second half before a Nick James penalty restored our two goal lead only for Leigh Hinds to tuck away a Kevin Harper cross to make it 2-3, but we held on for the last 10 minutes and a vital win that saw us move above the Dons on goals scored.

With a home match against bottom of the table Hearts up next we were hopeful of cementing our hold on 4th with Aberdeen away at Kilmarnock and Dunfirmline away at Rangers. In the end we were thankful Aberdeen only got a point as we fell apart spectacularly conceding a hat-trick to journeyman midfielder Trond Anderson, giving Hearts faint hope of staying in the SPL and seriously denting our hopes. David Winters had twice put us in front, but we had no answer to Anderson's 3rd 7 minutes from time.

The last round of matches before the split saw Aberdeen travel to Hearts and us travel to Celtic with hopes of 4th place falling away a little. Hearts though were clearly in no mood to give up yet and after going a goal down roared back to win 3-1 as we played out an entertaining 0-0 draw at Celtic Park with both sets of fans wondering quite how their team had failed to take any of their numerous chances.

Just 5 games to go now, but against the other teams in the top 6 so it'll be tough. A 6th placed finish would represent a great achievement for us though and might even get us a UEFA Cup spot so we'll just do our best and see how it goes.


<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Holders - Celtic Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts 1st Celtic 33 20 11 2 59 19 +40 71 2nd Rangers 33 22 5 6 67 32 +35 71 3rd Dundee 33 15 8 10 50 39 +11 53 4th Ross County 33 14 5 14 55 52 +3 47 5th Aberdeen 33 11 14 8 38 36 +2 47 6th Dunfermline 33 12 7 14 44 45 -1 43 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th Dundee Utd 33 10 10 13 40 48 -8 40 8th Kilmarnock 33 10 8 15 45 58 -13 38 9th Hibs 33 9 8 16 42 58 -16 35 10th Livingston 32 8 9 15 44 48 -4 33 11th Motherwell 32 7 11 14 44 64 -20 32 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12th Hearts 33 7 8 18 43 72 -29 29 </pre>

[This message was edited by glamdring on 16 February 2004 at 0:58.]

[This message was edited by glamdring on 16 February 2004 at 1:00.]

[This message was edited by glamdring on 16 February 2004 at 1:00.]

retired_marcias

End of season review to come tomorrow Final table:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Holders - Celtic| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Celtic | | 38 | 23 | 13 | 2 | 69 | 23 | +46 | 82 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Rangers | | 38 | 22 | 7 | 9 | 72 | 43 | +29 | 73 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Ross County | | 38 | 17 | 6 | 15 | 68 | 58 | +10 | 57 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Dundee | | 38 | 16 | 9 | 13 | 55 | 47 | +8 | 57 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Aberdeen | | 38 | 13 | 14 | 11 | 48 | 49 | -1 | 53 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Dunfermline | | 38 | 14 | 9 | 15 | 55 | 57 | -2 | 51 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Dundee Utd | | 38 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 50 | 53 | -3 | 53 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Livingston | | 38 | 10 | 12 | 16 | 54 | 55 | -1 | 42 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Motherwell | | 38 | 10 | 12 | 16 | 58 | 76 | -18 | 42 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Hibs | | 38 | 10 | 10 | 18 | 50 | 67 | -17 | 40 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Kilmarnock | | 38 | 10 | 10 | 18 | 54 | 73 | -19 | 40 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | R | Hearts | | 38 | 7 | 11 | 20 | 57 | 89 | -32 | 32 | </pre>

retired_marcias

Saturday 27th May 2006

It has been an amazing season for us, exceeding my expectations completely. Before the season started I was quietly confident that we would surprise a few people and stay in the division without too much trouble, but 12 games in with us sitting bottom of the table and playing some appalling football I would have been happy to just finish the season 11th and stay in the division. We were lucky to a certain extent that the division was so close...in fact our rise off the bottom after week 12 was a false dawn and we were back there after week 17, but it was our next win that set us off, moving us up 4 places in 1 week and we never looked back, rising into the top half of the table just 3 matches after we were bottom!

Our finish to the season was the stuff of dreams. I had modified my aspirations to try and hold on to a top 6 place for the split, but the players had other ideas. Dunfirmline and Aberdeen were in their sights and even Dundee who seemed safe in 3rd! It's a tremendous credit to our young players that they finished so strongly - many others would have settled for securing our SPL status, but not these lads. They pushed all the way and a second 2-3 win at Aberdeen in a month, a 3-1 home win over Rangers and a 6-1 home win over Dunfirmline in those last 5 games were soured only by a 1-0 defeat at Dundee. Surely that was the nail in our coffin for finishing 3rd? Not at all, Dundee were wobbling badly and in fact that win over us was their only one after the split.

We went into the final day of the season a point behind Dundee. We were at home to Celtic, they were at home to Aberdeen. Amazingly Aberdeen beat them and we put in a gutsy performance to draw 1-1 with Celtic and claim that coveted 3rd place - the best of the rest - behind the Old Firm.

I still find it hard to believe - we had 3-4 16/17 year olds in the side throughout the season and our oldest regular player was Steven McGarry who, at 26, himself only started 10 games with 12 substitute appearances. I could no doubt be accused of ageism as well as nationalism for my all-Scottish youngsters policy, but I firmly believe in youth. It's not that I don't respect the more experienced players - just that when we have a talented youngster I like to throw them in if they perform.

In the past 3 seasons, David Hannah, Hugh Robertson, Andy Morrison and Mark McCulloch have all been allowed to move on with John O'Neill and Gary Bowman out of contract and not being offered new deals this summer. Kevin Christie is also unlikley to feature next season leaving Jim Hamilton as our only player over 26 and he has disappointed hugely since I arrived, but will still feature next season. He has scored just 8 goals in 3 seasons at the club, but I have a soft spot for Jim and as a good target-man he will still be useful as a squad player for backup to Keith Robertson.

retired_marcias

End of season player review

We used a total of 25 players in the first team last season. Craig Devlin, John O'Neill, David McGuire, Martin Canning, Calum McHattie, Kevin Christie, Simon Williams and Bobby Duncan all played fewer than 5 games and apart from Williams who is a player for the future, they are unlikely to feature heavily in the next season either.

Jim Hamilton was again a bit of an enigma. For whatever reason he just hasn't scored the goals for us and last season he only made 5 starts and 4 sub apperances scoring 1 goal, but it was a crucial goal - the 89th minute penalty equaliser at Motherwell as we battled to turn our form around - the importance of that point and the boost it gave us to push on from there cannot be under-estimated.

Callum Kane and John Rankin were both tried on the left wing in the early season, but without a great deal of success. Rankin also played a few games in central midfield, but spent most of his time on the bench and is a good substitute to have available.

Keith Gibson failed to make much of an impact as one of only 2 pre-season signings and was perhaps not a good buy. Having said that though, he did fill in on the right wing and in the centre on a a fair few occasions and will likely fill the same role next season. Sergei Baltacha also featured sporadically and was a disappointment after the impact he made at the end of last season. He did have injury troubles though and is a good backup player for defence or midfield.

Steven McGarry is one of the fans' favourites and also another player I have a lot of time for. Whilst not being first choice for most of last season, Steven was a very useful substitute player as well as playing a number of games in the troublesome left-sided attacking role. Steven will be looking to make one of the two striking berths his own for the new season.

Off all those we tried on the left wing, Kevin McCallion, recalled mid-season, was the most successful and weighed in with a number of important assists and goals. Depending on our youth players coming through this summer, Kevin will probably begin next season as our first choice left winger.

On the right wing, David Winters was again a crucial player and it was no coincidence that our struggle in the early season came as David was out injured for 2 months. With 9 goals and 11 assists from 27 games, David came back strongly to help in our late season drive for success and will be a key player as we begin our assault on Europe next season. At still only 24 he is one of our most experienced players and still says the best is yet to come.

Our midfield was one of our strong points last season. O'Neill, Baltacha and Rankin all featured from time to time there, but our 2 first choice midfielders for most of the season were Ross O'Donoghue and Paul Harris. Both are superb passers of the ball and give us a great basis to build from midfield. Ross, at 23, is really beginning to blossom and played all bar 1 league games last season scoring 7 goals and claiming 4 assists, but it was his link-up play and passing around the midfield that really made us tick. Paul was one of our finds of the season as he soon pushed for a place in our team having come through the summer youth ranks. Another excellent passer with bags of pace who can run all day, Paul scored an impressive 4 goals from his defensive midfield role in his first season and is yet to turn 17 and sign his first professional contract. These two will continue their excellent partnership next season, but will be pushed by a number of promising young players.

In goal, Craig Samson had a tough early season and made a few errors throughout the season, but on the whole I was very pleased with his performances in difficult circumstances. At just 22 he will improve season on season and will again be our first choice next season.

In defence we had an up and down season, but Jamie McCunnie performed consistently in the centre and is a crucial player for us. Far too good for the 1st Division when he dropped a league to join Ross County before I arrived he is now back where he belongs and will be looking to pit himself against the best in Europe next season.

Alongside Jamie was our star of the season. The most consistent player in the entire division, it was a traversty that Nick James was overlooked for player of the season and finished just 3rd in the young player of the season award. Having come through our youth ranks 2 years ago, Nick is now firmly established in our first team at 17 and has already made 4 appearances for the Scotland U21s, scoring on his debut. Though originally a midfielder he has converted very successfully to a defensive role whilst still being highly capable when required in midfield. If we can produce more stars through our youth ranks of his quality we could yet end up with 11 Dingwall-born players winning the European Cup! Nick missed just 2 league games last season and scored 7 goals (mostly from the spot) and will look to press on to even better achievements next season.

Our two full-backs were highly consistent last season, missing just 3 league games between them and giving us excellent wide options. Kerr Dodds was slightly disappointed with just 4 assists last season, but his play down the right yielded far more goals than that would suggest. He also scored 4 goals which was a pleasant surprise, especially since all 4 were of the highest qualty. At left-back David Dunne displaced Bobby Duncan who had played the last 2 seasons and on his first season out from the youth team, acquitted himself extremely well claiming 8 assists and a goal. Both Kerr and David will start next season as first choice full-backs and I am hopeful that they will be even better than this season.

Finally, but not the least, our strikers. Steven McGarry did well when called upon, but it was Keith Robertson and Ian MacSween who quickly established themselves as our first choice partnership. Robertson is an excellent pacey target-man and has been great value since signing for just £1,000 from Peterhead reserves, passing the 50 goals mark for County as the season drew to a close. The raw numbers show that he only scored 10 this season with 8 assists, but his direct approach caused trouble for many defences. Ian MacSween was our other Summer signing and he made a huge impact, weighing in with 17 goals and 6 assists and finishing as our top scorer. MacSween is the perfect foil for Robertson with his great finishing and dribbling ability allied to lightening pace.
MacSween will be looking to move onto the next level in the coming season, by firing us to glory in Europe and to knock on the door of the Scottish national squad.

[This message was edited by glamdring on 16 February 2004 at 21:44.]