VENUE #43 ROSS COUNTY Global Energy Stadium

SCOTTISH PREMIER

Ross County... 1

Aberdeen... 0

Saturday 5th October 2013

@ Global Energy Stadium/

     Victoria Park, Dingwall,

               Inverness

     Absolutely loved it when this one came out of the bag, a nine hundred mile round trip to Dingwall in the Scottish Highlands to see Ross County who's ground is the furthest away from where I'm situated in the ten divisions that are being covered by myself and they're playing fellow highlanders and one of the most distinguished football teams in Scotland, Aberdeen.

   

Inverness castle taken from outside the hotel

My Wife is accompanying me on this trip which will start about 5:30am on Friday morning to reach Inverness about 2:30pm in the afternoon.  We're staying in Inverness at a Premier Inn hotel on the banks of the river Ness for two nights, starting the journey home at 9:00am Sunday morning.

     When we arrived at the hotel we unpacked and then I suggested that we take a walk up to the Caledonian Stadium so I could take some pictures of the ICT ground.  Baring in mind that we had just embarked on a nine hour journey and so the Wife was a little reluctant, shall we say, to come with me on this trek but after a little persuasion agreed to tag along.  The Inverness Caledonian Thistle ground is just across the road from the North sea and some of the views are breath taking, so to me, it was well worth the visit.

     On the Saturday morning we took in the sites of Inverness around the town, river and castle before I made the further journey by train to Dingwall while the Wife scouted around all the crafting shops she could find locally.  When I actually arrived at Dingwall station I ended up following the crowd thinking that everyone was heading for the football ground but nearly ended up in the pub,(again).  The majority of people getting off the train at Dingwall were Aberdeen fans making their way from the East coast to see the match or just to get drunk somewhere different whatever the case may be.  It suddenly came to me that I had to cross the railway bridge to reach the ground and not head in the direction of the town.

Teams shake hands before the match

     

     Last weekend Ross County travelled to Fir park to face Motherwell in the SPL and were on the end of a convincing 3-1 beating from the South Glaswegian side and the manager Derek Adams names an unchanged side to face Aberdeen this afternoon.  St. Mirren Park was the destination of the Dons on Monday night last where they managed to get a share of the spoils in a 1-1 draw and manager Derek McInnes makes just the one change, Niall McGuinn comes in for Calvin Zola.  Ross County go into this match fourth from bottom while their opponents are doing slightly better holding the fourth from top spot.

     The first half started with Aberdeen dominating the play and it seemed as though they would end their dismal record at the Victoria ground, only managing to draw one and lose two in the last couple of seasons.  But, for all their dominance of the game they couldn't manage to break down a resilient County defence.  The staggies were restricted to two chances in the first period and both of them fell to Rocco Quinn, the first was a shot from distance that sailed high and wide of Jamie Langfield's goal and the second came near to the end of the half when he was a little closer but still wide of the target.

     After the break County looked fired up and came out with intent toward the Aberdeen goal when Steven Ross's shot went wide of the visitors post but seven minutes in they took the lead when a ball from Melvin De Leeuw to the right side of the Aberdeen penalty area found Rocco Quinn who smashed the ball into the roof of the net from six yards.  County nearly extended their lead moments later but Graham Carey's shot from an acute angle was well saved by Aberdeen's keeper Langfield.

     The game opened up toward the end with both sides obtaining corners with County looking more likely to extend their lead than to lose it but in the dying embers Michael Hector thought he had earned the Dons a point but was denied by Mark Brown in the Staggies goal.

   

Five minutes to kick off and the Aberdeen fans are still in the pub

The Victoria ground or Global Energy Stadium as it was re-named in 2012 is a 6,300 all seated stadium.  The East and the West stands run along the touch lines with the East being the bigger, both are fully covered and the West, where I was watching the game from, has the left third designated to away fans.  The two stands behind the goals are the Jail end which is right side of the West stand and houses the vocal part of the home support while at the other end is the North stand which is the bigger of the two stands and where the opposing fans were watching the game.  The gate for this game was just over 5,000 and most of them were Aberdeen fans who filled the North stand and created a great atmosphere even though quite a number of them were a little over intoxicated, (So says the man after last weekend in Aberystwyth).

                                           Match Details