MARTIN WOODS had plenty to feel grateful about as he clutched his man of the match bottle of champagne for his superb performance in Ross County’s wonderful League Cup semi-final win over Celtic.
Roy McGregor, the owner of his club, got a mention and more specifically his wallet, the fact a rule change meant a second booking did not keep him out the final with Hibernian and also the fact those nasty people on television all thought his side had no chance, which acted as a spur.
Let’s begin with those who declared this match was a foregone conclusion and it was all about who Hibs were going to field against Celtic.
“That did wind us up,” said Woods who had a hand in two of his side’s goals. "It wasn’t even Alan Stubbs really, he was asked the question about how was it going to be not to be able to use Liam Henderson (on loan from Celtic) in the final.
“Come on, we are a top six team in the Scottish Premiership. We are hardly going to roll-over, we were going to give Celtic a good game.
“We are a better team than last season and did okay against them. Celtic are a big club with all the money but we knew if we carried out the game-plan we would have a right good chance. That fired us up. It was really disrespectful.”
Woods left County last season because his son lived in England but he and family quickly returned north to a club the midfielder believes is only going one way.
“The chairman, manager, Billy Dodds and all the squad have done an immense job,” said Woods. “They would be the first to admit they didn’t inherit a great set-up when they came in. The difference in our squad and set-up since I joined just last year is ridiculous.
"Just look at how far this club has come, so if we can keep the players and continue to grow, the chairman has quite a big wallet, so if he keeps spending a wee bit then who knows where this club can go or how far we can progress. It’s exciting times.
“We are not the biggest, or the prettiest to look at stadium-wise, but the infrastructure and everything else that has gone on behind the scenes is great, and they could not look after you any better.”
A booking won’t rule him out of the final and it would have been awful if such an honest player wasn’t allowed his big day. Few would bet against Ross County going on to win the cup now.
“We feel absolutely brilliant," he said. "They scored so early and then get in one-on-one soon afterwards and I’m thinking ‘oh, come on, what is going on here?’ We regrouped, the boys showed character and I’m so happy.”
Ross County goalkeeper Scott Fox also played his part, never more so than when he used his homework to save a Leigh Griffiths penalty with 15 minutes to go.
"I checked the time of their penalty and the save was massive. It made that last 10 minutes slightly easier for us,” said Fox an ex-Celtic player.
“Scott Thomson and the analyst Fraser had done their homework and given me a copy of their last four penalties. I had a rough idea of where to go and it was a big moment in the game. I thought he would go with a bit more power and thankfully I got the block on it.”
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