COMMENT – Stampede to safety is a great escape for the Staggies as Ross County stay in the Premiership
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Ross County are staying in the Premiership and top flight football is remaining in the Highlands next season.
I’ll be honest, for the majority of the campaign, I thought their best chance of escaping relegation was through a play-off, I couldn’t see anyone else but County and Hamilton Academical finishing in the bottom two.
Neither did I see an implosion at Kilmarnock which would drag them into the relegation battle.
In the split, it was a case of who performed best out of those three teams, and Ross County came out on top.
Ten points out of 15 in the final five games, including winning their last three matches, ensured Dingwall will remain among the elite venues of Scottish football next season.
Out of the five games in the split that was the biggest achievement, I would have to say it was the 2–2 draw at Kilmarnock.
One notable characteristic during the first half of the campaign was when Ross County got beat, they got well beat. When one goal went in, others usually followed. Not just against Celtic and Rangers, but there was the 4–0 at Motherwell, the 3–1 loss at Kilmarnock when they played against 10 men for more than 80 minutes, plus a 3-0 defeat to Aberdeen.
Other matches were closer affairs, but between September 19 and December 30, Ross County didn’t win a single league game. A run of 13 matches.
Usually when Ross County went behind, they got beat, but in the split, there was a determination not to accept defeat. Well, apart from the St Mirren match, which they lost 3–1 after being a goal up at half-time.
In the split, they were behind twice at Kilmarnock and got a point.
They fell behind to Hamilton Academical and won 2–1, while on Sunday, they trailed to Motherwell and won 2–1.
Manager John Hughes deserves enormous credit for dragging the Staggies out of the mire and ensuring the season finished last week and not dragged on to the play-off against a Dundee team who will fancy their chances of going up.
Hughes played a tougher physical style of 4-4-1-1 football than his predecessor did. Some players adapted to it better than others, most notably Blair Spittal, who shone in games.
Jordan White also found redemption in Dingwall after being dismissed by Motherwell after just half a season.
Other players found themselves on the sideline during the John Hughes era. Harry Paton, one of the few that caught the eye at the start of the campaign was mostly on the bench under Hughes.
It could also be argued Oli Shaw has not been Hughes’ preferred choice up front.
But Hughes made the right decisions most of the time to ensure points were put on the board.
He picked up important wins against Hibernian, Aberdeen and Celtic, as well as victories before the split against relegation rivals Hamilton and Kilmarnock.
If there was one criticism of Hughes, his dealings in the transfer market were not as successful as many hoped.
White was excellent and made a difference, but Tony Andreu and Leo Hjelde didn’t make the desired impact, plus, I’m still not sure who Mohamed Maouche is.
If Hughes is staying next season, and he deserves to if he wants to, he will be given plenty time to put his own mark on the team.
If it is another battle against relegation, or a chance to get into the top six, at least top flight football is staying in the Highlands and the best in Scottish football will be arriving at the Global Energy Stadium.
