“It’s the worst result in the club’s history, the worst performance in the club’s history.”
Ross County supervisor Stuart Kettlewell went thermonuclear final weekend as his facet have been thumped 4-0 at house by fellow relegation strugglers Airdrieonians.
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It was an abject scoreline for County, who’re backside of the Scottish Championship and now face the very actual risk of a second successive relegation.
All such a far cry from the beginning of the season when the recruitment of skilled second-tier gamers like Ross Docherty and Declan Gallagher was being lauded. They had held on to their high striker Ronan Hale too.
County have been backed by many to bounce again to the Premiership on the first time of asking however as an alternative they appear destined to be sucked into the quicksand of League 1.
Former participant Don Cowie began the marketing campaign as supervisor, regardless of being on the wheel when the ship went down. He was the native boy carried out good, entrusted with the duty of returning County to the highest flight.
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It took 9 video games for County to report their first league win. Not adequate. Cowie walked the plank.
In his place got here the skilled Tony Docherty however that didn’t work out both. Even with former St Johnstone boss Callum Davidson as his right-hand man, the County vessel continued to soak up water.
The closing act for Docherty and Davidson was a 6-0 defeat by Raith Rovers in December, with prodigal son Stuart Kettlewell answering the rescue name.
Recently dismissed by Kilmarnock, his arrival seemed like the ultimate roll of the cube.
It was again to the longer term for County, a nod to the glory days of the not-so-long-ago when Kettlewell and co-manager – now chief govt – Steven Ferguson guided Ross County to the Championship crown again in 2019.
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Early indicators have been promising. In his first sport again – in entrance of the BBC Scotland cameras – County downed high-flying Partick Thistle 2-0.
Defeats adopted to St Johnstone and Motherwell in cup competitions, no disgrace there.
The embers have been flickering, with three wins from their subsequent six league matches. However, the previous six have been winless. Four of these have been defeats.
That 4-0 loss to relegation rivals Airdrie tells a grim story and Kettlewell’s sturdy phrases felt like a determined try to salvage one thing. Anything.
A closing ‘Hail Mary’, filled with hope for a response slightly than expectation. Can it stir an unlikely rally from a moribund squad?
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If solely they may take a leaf out of the Queen’s Park guide.
After dropping their finest participant Josh Fowler within the January window, few predicted the Spiders would climb out of their internet of distress on the backside of the desk.
But a run of 4 wins from six video games in February and March reworked their season and abruptly that they had a glimpse of constructing the promotion play-off locations.
Form has tailed off barely however simply two defeats of their previous 9 matches means they continue to be buoyant and final week they held league leaders St Johnstone to a 1-1 attract Perth.
County can get off the underside of the desk with a win on Friday. It would transfer them a degree above Airdrieonians, albeit the Diamonds would have two video games in hand.
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With 4 fixtures remaining, County’s survival probabilities seem slim.
They have gained the fewest video games within the division and misplaced essentially the most; they’re the joint lowest scorers and have conceded the best variety of targets.
There is a small sliver of hope for the Staggies, primarily based on the three earlier conferences with Queen’s Park this season. The away facet has edged it every time and County really want to maintain that sequence going.