I’M UP FOR A SQUARE GO AHEAD

ALEX SCHALK would happily forget his last survival scrap with Kenny van der Weg – after both their clubs were relegated.

The Ross County striker and his pal went head to head as Schalk’s Go Ahead Eagles and van der Weg’s NAC Breda dropped through the Eredivisie trapdoor in 2014-15.

The Dutch duo will be at it again on Saturday as Hamilton visit Dingwall.

Van der Weg shared a flat with Schalk before his move to Hamilton last month.

But Schalk knows friendship will count for nothing with the stakes high at the weekend.

He said: “Kenny and I have been up against each other in a relegation battle before in Holland so it is not a new situation.

“I was with Go Ahead Eagles and he was with Breda. We won one game but they won the other and we both ended up relegated.

“In Holland three teams can get relegated from the top league, where here a maximum of two can go down. I don’t wish relegation on anyone but I’d rather it was Hamilton than us.

“It certainly isn’t nice to be facing a friend in that scenario. That’s the position Kenny and I will be in and we need to deal with that.

“Playing against Kenny will be interesting but there are no friends when the whistle goes.

“I’ve spoken to him already about Saturday. He’s joking about it and the comments are going back and forth. We’re good pals and we’ve known each other for years having played together at Breda as well.

“It is just another game on Saturday though. When the ref blows his whistle there will be no friends.”

Bottom club County sit eight points behind Accies, who have two games in hand, so a win in Dingwall would all but kill off Hamilton’s automatic drop fears.

But Schalk, who netted his 10th goal of the season in last weekend’s 3-2 defeat at Kilmarnock, reckons a big result could also set Staggies on the recovery trail.

He said: “One win could spark it for us. There is a good feeling approaching Hamilton at home and it’s a great game to get us back in the mix again.

“We need to make sure we’re in touching distance with the rest of the teams when the split comes. Dundee have difficult matches before the split but we need to look at ourselves first.

“Hamilton is the most important game. It’s nine finals now isn’t it?”