Staggies' shot stopper ready to face the fire at Firhill
SCOTT FOX fully expects to take the Firhill fire today as he returns to the venue where he spent five years of his professional life.
It will be the first trip back to Partick for the 28-year-old former Scotland squad goalkeeper – and Fox doesn’t need a crystal ball to anticipate the boos.
He was even prepared to fan the flames a little yesterday by stressing he had no regrets whatsoever about turning down a new deal with a club where he felt he had grown stale.
Despite an accomplished spell in Maryhill, where he made 143 appearances and found himself drafted into Gordon Strachan’s squad to face Norway, Fox admits the ire of the Partick faithful will be his.
The goalkeeper said: “It will be my first time back at Firhill so I’m looking forward to it. The fans will certainly make their feelings known, but I don’t get too much involved.
“My job is just to try and help us win the game of football.
“The Partick fans gave me a wee bit of a hard time when they came up here to Dingwall, so I think I’ll get more this time. You just take it!
“It’s one of those ones where I’d probably have been more hurt if they didn’t mete it out to me.
Fox could have accepted the offer of a new contract in Glasgow but felt it was time to move to freshen his career and keep progressing.
He said: “I was offered a contract with Partick but I wanted a change. I had been there five years and things were a bit static.
“The opportunity came up here and, outside of a really big move, it was one that really interested me.
“The gaffer spoke about the ambition the club had so it was more about that. At Partick, I was close to home but, for my career, I needed to get a wee push and step out of the comfort zone.
“I came up here a few times to visit and the journey is a bit of a jaunt, but it’s nice and I enjoy it here. It has been good so far so hopefully it continues.”
Fox earned a recall in Saturday’s victory at Hamilton after missing two months with ankle ligament damage. It proved an assured return, with several important saves.
The one-time Celtic youth said: “It was good to get back playing again on Saturday.
“It was an important game we had to win, so it was good to get the nod and a massive result that got us back on top of Hamilton.
“In the first half we were off the boil and the gaffer had a few words to say to us at half-time.
“But as soon as we got the first goal after the break I thought to myself ‘we are going to win this’.”
County have been described, repeatedly, as a hard-working side and while that is undoubtedly true, Fox, from a goalkeeper’s perspective, believes there is much more to the Staggies’ squad than spirit and endeavour.
He said: “I think we can do most things. We can change it about, send the ball up the top. If plan A doesn’t work we’ve always got a plan B.
“Up top the two strikers work their socks off and we’ve got the legs in midfield to push up.
“But there’s a lot of talent in the squad as well as work ethic.”
As for Partick, currently stringing results together with decent regularity, Fox said: “We just want to put a run together. I think it’s important now that we beat the teams who are round about us.
“That poor run we had was seven games including Aberdeen twice, Celtic twice.
“Against the teams who are around about us in the next five or six games, it is important we get a bit of momentum and start winning.
“It will be difficult at Partick.
“They will be full of confidence – they’ve three wins under their belt and I think it’s the first time in a long time that they’ve done that at this level.
“We know they are going to get the ball down and play.
“It’ll be an interesting game and hopefully we can put in the same hard-working performance that we did on Saturday and we will win.”