Plenty of balls but old rivals left delated by rampant derby day Staggies
AFTER this week, I’ll never be able to look at a beach ball again without smiling.
A bouncing abundance of those cheerful symbols of summer were conspicuous by their presence at the visitors’ end of Victoria Park on Sunday as Inverness Caledonian Thistle fans came calling.
They were in buoyant mood for the last local derby of the season — a mere 90 minutes of football away from an historic place in the heady heights of the Europa League.
That this was likely to be achieved on the ground of their great local rivals on the final day of the season? Priceless. You couldn’t make it up.
Had they come to rub salt in the wounds of their Highland rivals? You bet they had. Who could blame them? In football, victories like these hardly come sweeter.
If all went according to the form book, ICT fans would be considering the uncharted prospect of intriguing football away days in far-flung corners of Europe. And those beach balls could come in mighty handy in sunnier climes than our own.
And credit where it’s due, the ICT fans – often criticised for being quieter than a conclave of Trappist monks - were in fine voice, easily out-singing their initially more subdued hosts and setting the scene for one final act of drama before the curtain came down on a remarkable season.
Ross County’s pre-season objective in their historic top flight debut was mere survival. It was all about avoiding the drop. Eleventh place (out of 12) would do. No strangers to the fairy-tale ending, Derek Adams’ men exceeded all expectations (again). The mouth-watering prospect of the two great Highland rivals battling it out on the last day of the campaign for a place in Europe remained on the cards until the penultimate game of the season.
That’s quite an achievement — for both clubs.
Many County fans were doubtless secretly dreading the prospect of watching their rivals celebrating a place in Europe. Indeed that seemed inevitable, if the reaction of ICT fans to news of a goal from that other significant game being played in Perth was anything to go by. If Motherwell beat St Johnstone, ICT would be in Europe regardless. The outpouring of unbridled joy seemed to confirm that was coming to pass.
Only it wasn’t. Someone had scored, right enough — but it wasn’t Motherwell. From the perspective of crowd psychology, a fascinating case study. From the perspective of a Ross County fan, comedy gold.
As Steffen Wohlfarth could tell you, schadenfreude is a loanword from German to describe the sense of pleasure in the misfortune of others. Was there a bit of that about the place Just then? Probably. And there certainly was on the stroke of half-time as another County import, Canadian Andre Hainault elevated himself to instant hero status with a stunning match-winning volley.
Yet even before a ball was kicked this week, it was a delight to look around the Dingwall stadium at a group of people spanning the generations from babe-in-arms to (very) senior citizens. While a lot of football clubs claim to be family friendly, Ross County created the template.
It’s probably safe to say I was sitting in front of the youngest fan in the stadium — a babe-in-arms just a few days old. She turned out to be the daughter of doting dad Iain Vigurs, who would later cradle her in his arms on the pitch after another commanding performance in the heart of the Ross County midfield.
The first thought of several of the players on hearing the final whistle was to seek out their children in the 6,002-strong crowd. And some of them were, happily, able to make good use of those now abandoned beach balls up the Caley Thistle end...