Irvine won’t let his heart rule his head as he makes Dingwall return
Ross County enjoy a major role in Jackson Irvine’s football highlights reel, which is why he retains a soft spot for the Highlands side and wants to see them stave off relegation.
But when it comes to collecting the points needed to do that, he hopes they wait until at least next week to add to the tally.
Returning to Dingwall with current side Hibs this afternoon, a win would allow the third-placed Leith side to build on their advantage over rivals Aberdeen and head into the final pre-split game with a healthy six-point gap.
After two defeats, a victory would also serve to bolster belief as they tackle the concluding six league games, leaving Irvine with no room for sentimentality.
“Of course I would like to see them stay up, yeah! But let them save their results for after the split! We’ll take the win on Saturday,” he said.
It was at County that Irvine was able to get a sustained taste of first-team football, heading north on loan after a promising youth career at Celtic. Eventually signed on a permanent basis, he wrote himself into the history books as a member of the team that earned the club’s first major silverware, beating Hibs in the 2015/16 League Cup final.
“Domestically, that is probably the highlight of my career,” states the 28 year-old Aussie. “The actual highlight is playing at the World Cup but in
terms of club achievements, winning a trophy and the manner in which we did it, even the path to the final itself, coming through a derby, then beating Celtic, and then scoring in the last minute of a final, the whole way it came together, you would do better than to have a better moment than that.
“Obviously to be part of a club winning its first major trophy was very special and it is a lifelong memory.”
Describing the 2018 World Cup with Australia as the overall
career high, even the source of that achievement can be traced back to his time at Victoria Park.
“Yeah, it was the thing that pushed me into the national team. During my time at Ross County I was still mainly playing with the under-23s. But I got one call-up to the full side before I got my move to Burton in the Championship that summer,” Irvine recalled.
“Since the end of that summer window in 2016 I have been very fortunate, I have
been in every Australia squad so [his form at Ross County] was very much the thing that propelled me into having the career I have had and playing at the level I have had.”
And it was all played out against a stunning backdrop.
“All the time when I was down south and here I always tell people that the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland is the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen,” he said. “I was very lucky to get a chance to live up there and experience it all.
There was no manager and they were bottom of the league with seven or eight defeats from the opening nine games when I got the call to come up on loan. It was a difficult football decision and I was also making a lifestyle adjustment. But it was the best thing I ever did. I look back on those decisions and those moments that led to me going on loan then signing permanently in the summer and I’m so thankful for the experiences the club gave me."
The Football Association has apologised after Birmingham goalkeeper Hannah Hampton was left in “floods of tears” after being told she had missed out on Olympic selection hours before a Women's Super League game.
Hampton and two unnamed Everton players found out on Thursday they had not made the shortlist for Great Britain selection for the Games in Tokyo this summer.
Birmingham manager Carla Ward said the news affected Hampton's performance in the 4-0 loss to Everton.
Ward and Everton boss Willie Kirk criticised the timing of the decision and the FA took full responsibility for the situation.
The FA said: "We apologise to the players and clubs concerned and will also do so personally. The timing of the correspondence was an error, but we take full responsibility for the upset this has caused."
Earlier this week, after the announcement that interim England boss Hege Riise would lead the GB team, Baroness Sue Campbell, the FA'S director of women’s football, said: "The squad announcement will be in May, the final squad. This week, we’ll be talking to the players because we are going from a very long list to a shorter long list and we will be letting players know that later this week.”
Butthattimingwasshortly before the only game in the Women’s Super League on Thursday night and left Ward furious as Hampton made some mistakes in Birmingham’s heavy defeat.