ROSS COUNTY proved last night there is an appetite for affordable football in the Highlands after chairman Roy MacGregor threw open the stadium doors.
But it took a late Jonathan Franks’ winner to ensure both halves of the Premiership’s northerly divide may yet savour it in top-flight environs next season.
Endangered Hamilton Accies fought tooth and nail and threw everything at a host club in a ragged, riveting contest played out to the death, but are now consigned to the play-offs at best.
Caley Thistle desperately needed County to avoid defeat to keep their slender survival chances alive and their great derby foes duly delivered.
MacGregor’s vision and determination to innovate was to be applauded and it made for an end of season buzz in County’s home fixture that the players of both sides rose to.
Given that only 81 travelling supporters took up the free ticket offer in a time of dire need for their team, in all likelihood the crowd for this match might well have struggled to pass the 1,500 mark with little at stake for the hosts.
County, already safe in the Premiership, made five changes. Skipper Andrew Davies and Ryan Dow dropped out through injury, while Jim O’Brien, Martin Woods and Craig Curran stepped down to the bench.
In came Reghan Tumilty, Christopher Routis, Jonathan Franks, Alex Schalk and Kenny van der Weg.
Hamilton manager Martin Canning, fresh from that mighty setback against Motherwell last weekend, carried out a similar five-man revamp.
Captain Michael Devlin, caught up in a storm over abuse from an Accies’ supporter, dropped out injured along with Alex D’Acol, Georgios Sarris, and benched Danny Redmond and Grant Gillespie.
In came Massimo Donati, Scott McMann, Louis Longridge, Rakish Bingham and Alex Gogic.
Accies had lost three games in a row, but were unbeaten in three meetings with the Highland hosts this season.
Approaching this, their final home match of the campaign, Jim McIntyre’s team were unbeaten in six matches, chasing a new target of seventh place and backed by that big home support.
It was little wonder they made a rousing start.
With barely three minutes gone, Accies conceded a first corner. Frenchman Routis rolled it short to Michael Gardyne who cut swiftly inside and curled a sublime shot high into the far top corner of the net.
Accies reacted to that wonderful start for County with Dougie Imrie drawing a strong save from keeper Scott Fox before, in the very next move, Imrie was denied by a fine saving tackle from Tim Chow.
Canning’s men kept plugging away and Rakish Bingham pounced to snatch the equaliser close-in after 26 minutes after an Ali Crawford free-kick fell sweetly to him in a crowded penalty area.
The energetic Gardyne hobbled off on the half hour, taking with him some of County’s verve and attacking threat.
But the hosts came agonisingly close to regaining the lead a minute later.
Gardyne’s replacement, Woods, worked a lovely one-two with Routis but missed the target from 12 yards.
Accies were then the team rueing their luck as, in quick succession, Crawford drew another save from Fox and Bingham rattled the inside of the post.
The visitors’ luck was out again just before the break.
Chow took down Crawford just outside the penalty area and stepped up himself to swrl a free-kick up and over the County wall, but against the top of the left hand post.
It was a cruel was for Canning’s men to end the half, but one that augured well for the second period.
Woods, after only 15 minutes action from the bench, failed to re-appear for the Staggies after the break. Jim O’Brien was his replacement.
There was little pattern to play as the second half unfolded but, just before the hour mark, Routis dallied too long in clear sight of goal and, rolling a pass to Franks, saw the Teessider blaze over the bar.
Keeper Remi Matthews also spared Accies soon after with a point-blank save from Routis after Liam Boyce’s tenacity forced the ball into the box.
Accies luck was out again as Fox saved a Greg Docherty blast on the line, with Accies claiming the ball had crossed the line. Crawford fired over on the rebound.
Heavy County pressure restored the lead, with O’Brien’s 15-yard strike again smacking the inside post in front of the Jail End only to rebound off the keeper’s legs and in.
The restored lead lasted barely two minutes, though, as Accies substitute David Templeton wound into space and thrashed in his side’s second.
Just as it seemed Accies had earned a valuable point, Franks struck with a brilliant winning volley from the edge of the box.
ROSS COUNTY: (4-4-2) – Fox 8; Tumilty 7, Naismith 7, Fraser 6, Van der Weg 6; Franks 6, Routis 7, Chow 7, Gardyne 7 (Woods 30, 4) (O’Brien 46, 7); Schalk 6 (Curran 53, 6), Boyce 7. Subs: McCarey, Dykes, Malcolm, Keillor-Dunn.
Booked: O’Brien 88, Boyce 90
HAMILTON ACCIES (3-5-2) – Matthews 7; Gogic 6, Donati 6, McMann 6; Skondras 6, Crawford 7, MacKinnon 6, Docherty 7 (Redmond 82, 3), Imrie 7; Longridge 6 (Templeton 65, 6), Bingham 7 (Tierney 70, 4). Subs: Woods, Gillespie, Watson, Want, Tierney.
Booked: Longridge 8, MacKinnon 13, Imrie 90, Skondras 90
Referee: Alan Muir. 6
Att 4,871
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here