Tasty Tackle

Aplogies now if you are not in to football, however this particular fixture has really captured the imagination of folk who normally distance them selves from the game. This Highland derby -"El Kessocko"- had a lot riding on it for both teams. A win for Inverness Caley Thistle would see them secure third place in the SPL and lucrative European football next season. A win for Ross County would go a long way to heal the wounds of earlier season narrow defeats to ICT. We witnessed two at Inverness and I thought Ross County were brilliant to watch and very unfortunate.

Sadly for ICT the plans didn't really work. A side depleted by the suspension of two key players were really run ragged by a fast and very physical Ross County. Ross County won by the only goal of the game and it could have been many more.

Elsewhere in Scotland St Johnstone beat Motherwell and, with Ross County doing them the favour in Dingwall, grabbed third place.

There was a bit of a carnival atmosphere and while Scottish football in other parts can be tribal and hostile, here both sets of fans mingle before and after the match and it is a friendly environment.

I think this is Ivan Sproule of Ross County on the receiving end of a hard but legal tackle from Graeme Shinnie. This was the start of a couple of strong exchanges between the two players and a few minutes after this they were both booked for "unsporting behaviour".

Both teams are small outfits, run on very tight budgets, yet have achieved high SPL placings at the end of the season. They are a real credit to the Highlands.

L was of course disappointed but I wish them both success for next season