Ross County forward Alex Schalk believes his game-changing impact from the bench in Saturday’s 2-1 win against Hamilton Accies showed manager Owen Coyle he is ready to lead the line from the start.
Schalk came on when County trailed 1-0 against Accies at Victoria Park through Greg Docherty’s goal, but played a major role in turning the game around, scoring the equaliser before setting up fellow substitute Thomas Mikkelsen’s 86th-minute winner.
Dutchman Schalk has yet to make his first start under Coyle, who has been in charge for three matches since replacing Jim McIntyre at Dingwall, but he feels he has shown he is up to the task.
Schalk said: “Seeing my team getting beaten is obviously never nice – especially if I’m on the bench and I can’t do anything until I’m brought on.
“That was my mission, and I scored a goal and set one up. It was a good day’s work. We’ve got good players and everyone can play in my opinion.
“I would rather be starting, that’s for sure, but to come on and have an impact like this makes it a great day.
“We did well on Saturday, but I want to start games.
“I’ve not had the chance yet under the new manager, but I’m sure I will at some point. I think I’ve shown against Hamilton I’m more than capable and I need to take the chance whenever it comes along.
“When a new manager comes in, everybody needs to show what they are capable of.
“I think we’ve all shown our quality before. We are all playing at Ross County at this level, so that’s not a coincidence.”
The victory was County’s first home league triumph of the season, and their first since they defeated the same opponents Accies 3-2 in May.
Schalk was pleased to give the Dingwall faithful something to cheer, and the 25-year-old added: “That was a huge mountain to climb for us – we wanted to climb that one on Saturday, because we hadn’t won at home yet.”