WHEN Scott Fox announced at the end of last season that he wanted to leave Partick Thistle to join a club with which he could push himself to a higher level and win trophies, a move to Dingwall wasn’t what most observers had in mind.

The goalkeeper stated that he wanted a move upwards, not sideways yet leaving the Firhill side, who finished eighth in last season, to go to ninth-placed Ross County seemed not merely a sideways step but a downward one. Yet Fox is clearly good at predicting the future; County are now up to the heady heights of fourth place in the league after a draw at Motherwell, and in reality, they should have returned to the Highlands with three points rather than just one.

Fox had little to do throughout the 90 minutes and with County playing solidly, Michael Gardyne's goal in 33 minutes looked like it was going to be enough to secure a fourth consecutive win for the Highland team. Perhaps Fox was as taken aback as the rest of us though when, in the 93rd minute of a dull, uneventful game, Motherwell produced some good-quality play when Marvin Johnson drilled the ball across the box allowing Louis Moult to equalise and snatch a point.

“I’m gutted that they scored so late,” said Fox. “I thought that we’d hold out so it feels like a defeat right now: it’s certainly a case of two points dropped. This has happened already – we played St Johnstone away and were the better team but ended up drawing and you leave feeling devastated because you haven’t won. We’ve moved up a place in the table because other results have gone for us but we’re still disappointed.”

Whilst it is still too early in the season to know if Fox will fulfill his ambition of winning trophies, he seems content that his move to Ross County was the right decision.

“I’ve loved it,” he said. “It’s new and exciting for me and I’m enjoying the games right now. Of course, it also helps that the team is doing so well. We have a good squad with two players for every position. It’s a much stronger squad than we had at Partick Thistle and everyone knows that if they don’t perform, they’ll be out. It’s going to be a long, hard season and there will obviously be changes at some stage but it’s my position at the moment and I intend to keep it.”

County are a well-organised outfit who will be tough opposition for any side and while Fox was reluctant to make any grand predictions about winning trophies, he believes that the reaction to only drawing away to Motherwell shows the ambition of his club.

“In a sense, that shows how far Ross County have come as a club that we’re feeling as disappointed as we are after a result like this,” he said. “Let’s be honest, other teams will come here and struggle. Top six is our ambition and we’ve started well but the manager hasn’t set us any targets yet – I think he’ll wait a bit for that.”

As for Motherwell, they had struggled to create many chances right up until they scored although the introduction of Theo Robinson at half-time livened the home team up somewhat. This was just Robinson’s second competitive appearance for Motherwell and the Jamaican striker believes that there is more to come from him. The 26-year-old did not have a club over the summer and so missed out on a full pre-season so he is optimistic that as his match fitness increases, so will the level of his performances.

“I was training at my cousin’s gym and with a few different teams but it wasn’t the pre-season that you’d like to have,” he said. “I’m just going to bide my time, keep training and look to get picked – the more training I do and the more match fitness I get, the better it will be for me to show what I can do. I linked up well with Liam [Boyce] today – that was the first time that I’ve played with him so there’s good signs.”