21/12/2024 – ROSS COUNTY (A)

What a day!

Football can be strange at times. We can’t think of any other reason that would motivate us to get out of our beds at 7am on a grim Saturday winters morning and make a 200 mile journey north, to a place we knew the weather was going to be much worse, with no guarantee we would make it or the match would even be on, but we made the journey anyway.

Once inside Victoria Park, some warmed by the hospitality on offer in the Highlands, the fans huddled towards the back of the stand to prevent getting even further soaked, but aware that Saints were already without Mark O’Hara, who was injured and likely not to return until February.

The manager opted for Oisin Smyth as his replacement, preferring the Irishman to Caolan Boyd-Munce, Denis Adeniran or even slotting Alex Gogic into midfield, for what was sure to be a battle on a day football was going to be near to impossible.

Smyth repaid the manager with a brilliant performance, topped off with a stunning winner, but before we get that far, the windiest place in Europe hosted an eventful and at times controversial match, which once more provided very late drama to round off an unforgettable year on the road following our great club.

Saints struck first when former County captain Alex Iacovitti poked home the opener following a fumble from the home goalkeeper Jack Hamilton after 27 minutes, the big defenders third goal of the season, despite being out injured for almost all of it!

Playing against the wind, which was more like standing directly behind the jet engine of a Boeing 747, Saints actually coped very well with the conditions, with Phillips and Smyth winning the midfield battle with considerable ease.

After the teams turned around for the second half, the hope was the wind in our favour would help the players build on the lead, but that thought lasted all of 25 seconds as County quickly equalised at the outset of the second half.

From here, it became as mad a game as we can remember. Scott Tanser was very harshly sent off again, following his puzzling red card at Fir Park, and then 4 penalties were missed by the referee and VAR, with 3 of these for Saints, ranging from the probable to absolute certainty!

Stephen Robinson was booked after complaining about the last of these, when Killian Phillips was bundled over by Jordan White in the act of shooting late in the match.

We can only assume VAR thought White was caught by the wind, thrown off balance and coincidentally just happened to ram into the Saints player about to score. Acts of God, the latest VAR protocol to consider for our beleaguered officials!

The drama was far from finished however. Despite being down to 10 men, Saints had been well on top since this, and the introduction of Jonah Ayunga was a big factor in this, with his pace and powerful running causing multiple issues for County.

From one of his driving runs, County conceded a free kick on the edge of the box with around a minute remaining of regular time.

With Smyth having sent one from a similar position over the bar earlier in the game, it wasn’t clear who was going to take it, but the Irishman stepped forward again to curl a magnificent unstoppable effort high into the corner of the net.

Dare we say it, it was almost Gunni Torfason-esque, but the three points were coming back to Paisley and the 7 minutes injury time, although nervy for the fans, was seen out comfortably by the players.

The players and management team celebrated wildly with the 500 traveling supporters at full time as Saints strengthened their grip on a top 6 place, but also reconfirmed they are resolute bunch that should never be written off.

It was as good a day as any to conclude our away trips for 2024, which have went from Edinburgh, to Reykjavik and Bergen and finished in the harsh winter of the beautiful Scottish Highlands. What a year following our club on the road!

Have a great Christmas and COYS!

Ross County Players of the Match:

5 points – Oisin Smyth

3 points – Jonah Ayunga

1 point – Alex Iacovitti

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