Jim’s joy as County cling on to bust 7-year hoodoo
Jim McIntyre hailed his Ross County troops for shattering their seven-year opening-day hoodoo after riding out a final five minutes “like the Alamo”.
Goals in either half from Jamie Lindsay and Christopher Routis were enough to hand the Staggies victory in a curtain raiser for the first time since 2010.
Jack Hendry’s header five minutes from time fired up Neil McCann’s Dark Blues but the Highlanders held on in a role reversal to last season when Dundee left Dingwall on day one with a 3-1 win.
McIntyre said: “I was really pleased with the way we played – we should have had more goals for our efforts.
“I was told Ross County have not won on the opening day for x amount of years so I am delighted to have done that.
“Dundee is a really difficult place to win at and Neil has made some good signings. This will be a hard place to get results. It is a great start to the season.
“We passed the ball well and handled a lot of what Dundee threw at us – we were quite comfortable.
“We lost a free header and that was the most annoying thing as we were desperate to keep a clean sheet and it was like the Alamo for the last f ive minutes. That was the only frustrating thing. The first by Jamie is a cracking goal.
“It is a great strike and we have two midfielders on the scoresheet , which is good. We have spoken about the need for the centre areas of the park to contribute more goals this season as we were quite poor on that front last season if I’m being honest.
“Michael at times was unplayable and he does his shift defensively, which is just as important.” County were without suspended duo Craig Curran and Jim O’Brien for the trip to Dens Park only for their replacements to be the ones who grabbed the goals.
But Dundee were the ones who almost went in front on three minutes when Mark O’Hara’s low shot was superbly saved by Scott Fox.
The Staggies should have gone ahead in 28 minutes when Gardyne’s centre across the six-yard box evaded Alex Schalk while Jason Naismith couldn’t turn it home at the back post. Scott Allan – one of six players to make their top-flight debut for the Dark Blues – f ired inches over 60 seconds later before Schalk drove straight at Scott Bain with the goal at his mercy. Jamie Lindsay’s sweet volleyed opener 10 minutes before the break was no more than County deserved. McIntyre’s men got their breakthrough with 10 minutes of the half left, though, as Lindsay rattled home Andrew Davies’ knockdown on the volley.
Fox beat away Roar ie Deacon’s rasping drive with both fists then kept out Kevin Holt’s header from the resultant corner as Routis saw his drive deflected over having taken a fresh-air swipe first time.
McCann threw on Hendry for Kerr Waddell at the restart and within six minutes was forced into another change as Sofien Moussa limped off with Faissal El Bakhtaoui taking his place.
Deacon hammered in another drive on the hour that Fox clung on to as County went on to double their lead in 61 minutes.
An unmarked Routis headed home Sean Kelly’s corner from six yards with the Dark Blues’ defence all at sea.
Dundee Ross County
Dundee gave themselves a glimmer of hope when Hendry nodded home Allan’s corner but Darren O’Dea’s 20-yard screamer moments later went inches over the top.