THE JEER FACTOR
Woods is planning to silence Caley fans
IT’S sometimes known as the friendly derby — but Ross County midfielder Martin Woods admits he will be driven by thoughts of revenge when his team cross the Kessock Bridge to face Inverness Caley Thistle today.
Woods still bristles at the behaviour of rival fans during the Dingwall club’s League Cupwinning celebrations last March.
Inverness had already rained on County’s parade by beating them 3-0 in a league game at the Global Energy Stadium that day.
But Woods admits he was stung by the taunts of a large group of Caley Thistle fans who stayed behind to make mischief during his club’s open-top bus silverware tour immediately afterwards.
Both teams will be anxious for a win today after both suffered opening-day Premiership defeats.
There is also the double whammy of County losing their grip on the Betfred League Cup at the group stage and Inverness being knocked out of the competition by Alloa earlier this week.
But former Leeds United and Sunderland midfielder Woods admits those memories of jeering Caley fans will also spur on Jim McIntyre’s team this afternoon.
‘I missed the last derby in March, but I was disappointed for the boys,’ recalled 30-year-old Woods. ‘It put a dampener on the day because we had all been buzzing for the parade. It was a big thing and our own fans were brilliant.
‘We heard a few things getting shouted from their fans and that sticks in your head, so you want to put one over on them. I had promised my son I would take him on the bus. I was sitting on the back and there were a load of their fans at the train station shouting things.
‘At the time, I remember thinking: “I can’t wait to play you guys again”.’
Derby day in the north has, more often than not, proven a let-down for County supporters.
Of 51 meetings since the clubs entered the Scottish leagues, Inverness have won 26 compared to a miserly 12 County wins and 13 draws.
‘We need to put that record right,’ said Woods. ‘Last season, we only won the cup game and lost three times to them in the league.
‘That’s not good enough. We need to be doing better in the derby games and we’ll be out to do that this time.
‘But we must concentrate on our jobs and not treat it differently from any other game.’
Inverness midfielder Iain Vigurs lives in his wife’s home town of Dingwall, but admits he has had more of a problem winning over some of his own team’s fans than facing flak from supporters of former club County.
Dumped by then manager Terry Butcher in his previous spell at Caley Thistle, Vigurs returned to the Highland capital with County in August 2009 and gleefully scored a cheeky back-heel in a 3-1 victory.
Three years later, he taunted furious Caley fans at the Global Energy Stadium after scoring a late goal in a dramatic 3-3 draw.
Now a key performer for Inverness, Vigurs reckons he is finally settling differences with most of the club’s fans, if not all.
The 28-year-old, who returned for a second spell at Caley last summer after being released by Motherwell following a serious back injury, joked ahead of today’s derby: ‘The Caley supporters all hate me! They were a little bit iffy about me at the start.
‘I’ll not win all of them over. That would be impossible unless I was Messi or Ronaldo. But as long as I can win a few of them back from my time at County, that’s good enough for me.’
Nobody among the current generation of players at either club is more immersed in Highland derby culture than Vigurs.
‘It seems I’ve spent my whole life up in this area now, either at County or at Inverness,’ he said.
‘I’ve enjoyed it and I always look forward to the derby games. It’s the first one I look for when the fixture list comes out and to see this one drawn so early was good.
‘I’m back living in Dingwall. My wife and all her family come from the town — so we stay behind enemy lines.
‘When I was at County, I got to know a lot of faces in Dingwall. I sometimes run into a bit of banter, but it’s all good natured.
‘Last season, we had some good wins against Ross County in the league.
‘When I played for County, it was always good to get a goal in the derby, which I seemed to do a few times. This time, another one would go down well with our own supporters.’