Peterhead stopper Scott Ross has already ensured that this season will be better than last season in one way and now he is out to ensure that this campaign is better than the last in the biggest way possible.
The 22-year-old scored the winner against Queen’s Park last weekend and not only did that mean he had doubled his tally of goals for last season, it helped the Blue Toon to a 5 point lead at the top of the table.
Ross, who started off playing with Premiership Aberdeen, is determined that Jim McInally’s men lift the League 2 title to avoid the play-off heartache they suffered at the hands of East Fife last May.
The defender talked through his career up until this point and he said: “I was with Aberdeen from the age of 10 and went through all the age groups there. I left at the age of 20 after getting onto the bench for the first team on more than 10 occasions but never getting a crack at establishing myself.”
There was a high as Ross explained: “I was a substitute against Sigma Olumouc in the Europa League which was a great experience even though the tie was lost 8-1 on aggregate. I was a local boy, from Bucksburn, and I almost lived the dream of playing for the Dons but I had to leave to start playing football regularly.”
“I trained with the first team, got on the bench but I never got much to play but that is one of those things. You move on and this is my fourth season at Peterhead.”
For a player who grew up as an Aberdeen supporter the move to Balmoor allowed him to work with another hero of his as he explained: “I spent one season on loan at Peterhead and I have been here ever since. Neale Cooper was the manager that brought me here and Mark McGhee was the manager that had me on the bench for Aberdeen so to learn from two of the players that defeated Real Madrid to win the European Cup Winners Cup in 1983 was pretty amazing.”
It is more about League 2 glory that European glory for Ross who said: “This season things are going alright but defensively we are not as solid as were last season even though we are top of the league. We had a lot of shut-outs last season but this season we have only had two or three. However if we keep doing what we have been doing we can have a successful season.”
Regardless of how it is done Peterhead are determined that they stay in pole position and get promoted as Champions to make up for the disappointment of finishing runners up to Rangers last season and losing out in the Play-off Final.
Queen’s Park were seen off home and away at the semi-final stage however after a goalless draw at Bayview East Fife won the second leg of the Final 1-0 at Balmoor.
It is not a game that Ross remembers with any fondness as he explained: “It was extremely disappointing and that is the best way to describe it. In fact it was horrible and I don’t think one word was spoken by anyone in the dressing room afterwards.”
The aftermath of that defeat is a motivation this season with Ross explaining: “Our assistant manager David Nicholls reminds us of that afternoon every now and again. He reminds us how it felt and what we need to do to ensure we don’t feel like that again.”
“It can be good cop and bad cop as the manager Jim McInally will praise us and then David will bring that up to keep us grounded.”
Whilst McInally has instilled a team ethic at Balmoor thankfully for him and the Blue Toon their striking duo of Rory McAllister and Andy Rodgers have been in fine form this season.
Ross said: “We have been fortunate in that whilst we have not kept as many clean sheets as we would like, our strikers Rory and Andy have been terrific. They have banging goals in and then myself, Ryan Strachan, Graeme Sharp, the skipper Steven Noble and goalkeeper Graham Smith have the job of keeping our opponents out.”
“Hopefully we will have a better record of doing that in the second half of the season.”
Whilst Ross may be disappointed at the goals his side have conceded he has been on the score-sheet at the other end of the table as he explained: “Thankfully I scored on Saturday against Queen’s Park last Saturday and it was the match-winner so hopefully that will keep Rory and Andy quiet.”
McAllister is also from the Granite City however Ross has only faced him once as an opponent as he explained: “Despite growing up in Aberdeen we never played against each other until my first season when I was on loan at Peterhead. He was with Brechin City at the time. That was the only game I came across him and he tells me that it was lucky for me and I tell him the same.”
“I am already having a good season as I have beaten my goalscoring total for last season. I scored against Albion Rovers so I am up to two. The one last year came against Rangers when we won at Ibrox so that was not a bad goal to get.”
Ross added: “As long as one of us keeps grabbing match-winning goals we will be happy.”
After losing out last season Peterhead are determined to do things right this time with Ross saying: “Winning the league is the target and I believe that we have the mentality to do it. Over the last few games we have got into a run of form and it is all about maintaining it between now and the end of the season.”
“The last time we faced Annan we lost 2-0 at Galabank. We had a makeshift team that day as I was out injured, Ryan was out injured and we had a couple of suspensions as well. It was a disappointing result however it was not an easy win, it was a much closer game than that.”
“We have upped our game since them, having only lost the once when we went down 1-0 to East Stirling. We have had a few draws but the Shire game was another game that we could have got something from.”
As well as opening a bigger lead over the Galabank side Peterhead have another good reason for wanting to beat them this weekend as Ross explained: “We have another incentive to beat Annan as they are the only team that we have not defeated in the league this season. We have two more games against them to do that to get that win.”
“It will not be easy as they are strong candidates for the title as well.”
Ross summed things up by saying: “Hopefully I can get a couple of more goals, we can have some clean sheets and win the league.”
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