The Bald truth: Euro dream is achievable for Ross County
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JACK Baldwin believes Ross County have every chance of securing a historic first European adventure if they replicate the form that brought top six status.
The Staggies’ skipper, speaking before County landed three home and two away matches in post-split fixtures, knows fourth place would guarantee Europa League inclusion. Fifth could bring European Conference League qualification depending on the Scottish Cup outcome.
County have Celtic, Motherwell and Dundee United at home and Hearts and Rangers away. They have taken points off all of those non-Old Firm sides this season.
“We’re in the mix now. With five games to go, anything can happen,” Baldwin stressed.
“We’re there on merit and there’s no reason why we can’t challenge for Europe too. We spoke in the changing room immediately after the Aberdeen win. Other than Celtic and Rangers, who pose their own threat, the rest of the games present a massive opportunity.
“We won’t be there to make up the numbers. We have a strong group and a belief we can go and really challenge in this last part of the season.”
Baldwin summed up his pride at the achievement, sealed from the penalty spot late on at Pittodrie by Jo Hungbo.
“It is hard to put into words,” he admitted. “The atmosphere after the game was something I’ll never forget. There’s a process happening at Ross County and to see that come to fruition is just fantastic.
“We’ve got some fantastic people involved at Ross County, who have seen the club from the Highland League all the way through.
“It is for those people it means the most. For us players to do them justice for the work they do off the pitch is a great achievement for everybody involved.”
“We believe in what we do and understand that we have some fantastic talent in the squad. At the start of the season, it was a case of working out how all of the new faces would fit together and getting the team flowing.
“It is probably right up there for team spirit and everyone being on the same page. Hopefully we can only get better and keep kicking on from here.
“We’ve got an understanding out on the pitch where the lads can dig each other out if they need to. It all comes from a good place, for the good of the team, the squad and the football club.
“The togetherness is fantastic and the talent speaks for itself with some of the statistics that the boys are producing this year.
“It has all come together at the right time and we find ourselves where we are.”
