Tokely ‘team talk’ does trick for Ross County

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FORWARD Michael Gardyne believes Ross County do not have anything to prove to rivals Caley Thistle after winning their second Highland derby of the season on Saturday at Victoria Park.

The 23-year-old was given the man-of-the-match award after a brilliant display, scoring the Dingwall side’s second goal in a 2-1 victory, played in front of a crowd of 5,506.

Former Celtic and Morton player Gardyne revealed County were inspired by pre-match comments from Caley Jags questioning whether they would be able to sustain a place in the top half of the table.

After claiming their fourth home league win of the campaign, the Staggies are just two points behind First Division leaders Queen of the South and Dundee.

Gardyne said: “I don’t think it was a timid derby. We had Ross Tokely’s comments pinned up on the dressing-room wall before the game and the manager did not need to give us a team talk.

“A few of the players were talking about it before the game and we knew there was going to be a big crowd and we wanted to show them what we could do. I think we did.

“Richie Foran said after the Challenge Cup game there was only one team in the Highlands but we showed them we are more than capable of matching them.

“It was a great performance from all the players. It was even better that it was against our rivals Caley Thistle in front of a near full house.”

Gardyne played an instrumental role in County’s dominant display. He added: “For the first half hour we were brilliant. Caley Thistle did not look as though they had anything about them until the second half. It is a credit to our players and the management for getting our tactics right.