We’re just loving it
County pair celebrate with a cuddle, leaving Motherwell in trouble
IT WAS an action of sheer relief rather than unbridled joy. These three points have all but guaranteed Premiership football at Ross County next season, but Michael Gardyne and Craig Curran spent the immediate moments in the wake of the final whistle hugging each other on the ground at the edge of their own penalty area.
‘I think I was just exhausted,’ smiled Gardyne. ‘I just wanted a man hug.’
The well-travelled midfielder knows first hand how much is at stake when the season reaches this stage at the wrong end of the table.
He was on loan at County from Celtic back in 2007 when they were relegated from the old First Division and watched the club — and its people — fall apart before his eyes after a 3-2 home loss to Gretna on the final day of the campaign sealed their fate.
Although the Staggies need two more points to be arithmetically safe, such agonies will almost certainly be reserved for others this year thanks to the 72nd-minute goal from substitute Christopher Routis — coming from a ridiculous error from home defender Zak Jules — that ensured Motherwell, for one, remain deep in the mire.
Gardyne has a deep appreciation of the pain their players, management and fans will go through as they endeavour to protect not just the club’s top-flight status, but the jobs and livelihoods of friends and colleagues.
‘I’ve seen it before when you go down that people lose jobs, players move on,’ he said.
‘It is not good to see how it affects people. Everyone was crying back then. I always remember Scott Leitch coming in and saying he was standing down as manager and even he was crying.
‘It’s not nice and I am just happy for myself, the lads, Roddy the kitman and the chairman, who came in at the end.
‘It wasn’t a pretty game and the first half was pretty nervy from both sides. We were missing Liam Boyce up front as well and had to play two or three systems, but the lads took it on board.
‘The gaffer playing me at leftback was a crazy decision, but it obviously worked.’
Visiting manager Jim McIntyre opted to go with Ryan Dow up front beside Curran, but was forced into bringing on matchwinner Routis after just 23 minutes — the first of several tactical changes — when Dow started complaining of an issue with his heartbeat.
‘Ryan was feeling some palpitations and was gasping for air,’ explained McIntyre. ‘He wasn’t able to get his second wind, but it appeared more serious than that and we felt we couldn’t take a chance.
‘This was a huge result for us. There wasn’t a lot of quality in the match, but it was one of those occasions where everyone knew what the points meant.’
They certainly did. There was a tentative, anxious quality about the game throughout. Motherwell, who had actually rigged up their own form of goal-line technology with cameras attached to scaffolding in two corners of the ground following a number of questionable decisions this term, were booed off the field by their supporters both at half-time and at time up.
It was a worrying afternoon for them. Facing a proper pressure cooker of a match at Lanarkshire rivals Hamilton next weekend, they lacked urgency and threat and signed their own death warrant by conceding a shambolic goal with 18 minutes to play.
It is difficult to figure out quite what was going through the head of Jules, just on to replace Steven Hammell, who only made the game after bursting a vein in his leg in training.
The ball was rolling out of play for a goal kick when he decided to stop it and play a needless pass inside to Carl McHugh.
Jules then lost possession under pressure. Reghan Tumilty ended up swinging a dangerous cross into the heart of the area from the right that Tim Chow sclaffed into the path of Routis, with goalkeeper Russell Griffiths — handed his debut in place of the dropped Craig Samson and looking none too clever — committed.
The goal lay at Routis’ mercy from seven yards and, although the contact was far from clean, he managed to put the ball high into the net in front of a grand total of 162 jubilant travelling supporters.
Most concerning for their fans, is that Motherwell never really looked like getting back into it after that. Indeed, Curran had a good chance to make it 2-0 for County when breaking clear, only to be caught in the nick of time by the backtracking Ben Heneghan as he pulled the trigger to shoot.
Yes, Motherwell enjoyed the best of the 90 minutes. Probably had the territorial advantage. They cannot defend for 90 minutes, though, and their home record — now standing at four wins and 11 defeats from 18 fixtures — is nothing short of atrocious.
Their only effort of note from the first half was a Scott McDonald shot, which was easily saved by Scott Fox.
McHugh did send a header just over from an Elliott Frear cross before the winger then dived for a penalty — and failed to get it — under pressure from half-time substitute Tumilty.
Lionel Ainsworth beat Marcus Fraser on the right of the penalty area before flashing a shot into the side netting and then forced Fox to get down low to his left and palm the ball round the post from a fairly well-struck free-kick.
There is almost always a moment of silliness in Motherwell’s displays, though, a moment in which someone suffers some kind of brain freeze.
Jules duly delivered. The tension simply intensifies.