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Decided that rather make the seven or eight hundred mile round trip to Sheffield I would content myself with a two hundred and ten mile jolly to Dingwall yesterday. Even then I managed to get stuck in traffic for five minutes as the 4892 converged on the Global Energy stadium. And the queue for tickets might even have been into double figures, I apologised to those waiting behind me as the portable terminal to process a credit card had to be brought over from another window as I shelled out £26 for one of the better seats in the house - all the back to row L this time, despite having one of Runrig do a song for them I'm not going to suffer the dismal view from the Jail End again:
Still, a lively song to play before a game and a bit more musical than most football inspired efforts. It was followed by a minutes silence for former Staggies manager Ian McNeill and the announcer firmly requested that we be upstanding for this, unlike a few in recent years this was perfectly observed by both sets of supporters.
Once the game was underway it was obvious that Christophe was struggling to keep pace even with the stop start nature of Ross County's 75% genetically challenged attack and yet his positioning and poise made him the best player on the pitch. I think I rarely noticed him during Town games (that would have needed analytical skills on Phil and Harry From Bath levels I don't possess) but here, and it's true that an ex-Town player is often the focus of my attention at Inverness or Ross, Berra stood out. And perhaps his energy level was a bit sapped by the two full games he had had for Scotland whilst most on the pitch had a fortnight off. He might also be getting away with being more robust in the challenge, a couple of Ross players were left staggieing around for a few minutes. And whilst he did sacrifice a couple of threatening free kicks it was always with a few defenders behind him and nothing more than one brief comment from the ref. When the Ross equaliser came it is significant it was from their left side, the opposite channel to Berra's left leaning central role.
The Hearts supporters, probably less than a thousand, were a noisy bunch and perhaps the loudest I have heard since a trip to St. James' Park last year but don't seem to vary their songs much beyond changing the name of the person accused of self abuse. I sometimes check my phone to see how many minutes have gone, or if the hour is approaching five, I was tempted yesterday afternoon to check if the year was in the 1980s. Oddly, despite being 1-2 up they fell almost silent for a quarter of an hour when their side was reduced to ten men, on the pitch their players seemed not to notice and Ross didn't really put any decent attacks together until the six minutes of added time (though an entertaining game it had been peppered with injuries and a surprising three against three set of handbags given the number of players on a card).
Other than Berra two players caught my eye for differing reasons. Esmael Gonçalves was an always threatening attack force in comparison to the sleepy Kyle Lafferty and scored the opening goal with a great deal of confidence. Named on his shirt as 'Isma' and wearing the number 77 (can't wait for the poster who requests our votes on the best player to have squad number 77) he occasionally dropped back into midfield but mainly exploited turning difficulties in the Ross right side of defence with explosive runs that were surprising given his Reuser like physique and awkward gait when not at speed, perhaps he had used up his tank to explain a substitution midway through the second half.
And in the final half hour Lafferty finally woke up, mainly to play pantomime villain but his upper body bulk and height did also provide the cross for Hearts' sweetly struck winner. And in the final minute he lay on the ground poking his right calf in the air in an attempt at feigning cramp in tandem with another Hearts injury that merely attracted a backward look of scorn from the referee and hoots of derision from the County supporters. You can take the player out of the Norwich but you can't take etc.
At least Berra was on the winning side yesterday on 08:44 - Oct 15 by No9
Is there really any life in Dingwall?
After circuits of Lidl and the big Tesco plus a two and a bit hour drive home I didn't hang around to find out. It's a small town but there are a few pubs and with the through traffic of engineers working on the rigs that get parked for repair in the Moray Firth (a bit quiet at the moment) you can probably engage in a lively discussion or two if you stay over for a few beers.
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