I am not surprised Aberdeen are showing an interest in Ross Stewart. He has not yet earned a reputation of being a regular goalscorer, but, from the games I’ve watched, there is no doubt the potential is there.
All he needs is to find the consistency to go with it.
Stewart was excellent when County knocked Celtic out of the Betfred Cup last month and he showed against the Dons on Saturday he can get into good goalscoring positions, only denied a goal by the efforts of Aberdeen goalkeeper Joe Lewis.
It’s no secret Derek McInnes has been interested in Stewart for some time and he must be confident he can hone that potential and raw talent which the Staggies striker has and create another regular scorer like Sam Cosgrove has been for the Dons.
There’s a lot of work to be done before showing an interest in a player leads to getting him to sign on the dotted line, but it will be interesting to see what Ross County will do about Stewart next month.
They may be willing to do a deal for their forward and reinvest the funds in the team or they may view him as a key player in their bid to stay up and be willing to sacrifice a fee and risk seeing him leave for nothing next summer.
There’s no doubt losing him in January would be a huge blow for the club and it will be interesting to see how this plays out when the window opens next month.
The Staggies find themselves in a horrible situation after dropping to the bottom of the Premiership following their 2-0 loss at Pittodrie.
It has been a tough season so far for the club and their match against Hamilton on Saturday has become a huge one.
Accies were swept aside by Hibs at the weekend and County will be hoping to play the role of bully and pile more misery on Brian Rice’s side.
That’s what tends to happen in relegation battles. Clubs seem to gang up and pick off the weakest team and put as much distance between them and the bottom club as they possibly can.
County travel to Livingston tomorrow in the Betfred Cup which will be a welcome break from league duty, but if they can reach the semi-final it will give everyone at the club a huge lift heading into Saturday’s vital league match.
While County are licking their wounds after losing at Pittodrie, the Dons will be delighted to get back to winning ways with Curtis Main leading the way thanks to his two goals.
His first was an instinctive reaction to stick a leg out and scramble the ball over the line, but there was no doubting the quality of his second goal. The touch, strength and finish was top drawer.
It was a crucial win for Aberdeen and they will be hoping to build on it when they go to Kilmarnock on Saturday. Hibs are not going away and the stage is set for a real fight for the European spots in the second half of the season.
Point apiece about right at inverness
Caley Thistle may have felt as if they dropped two points against Dundee on Saturday after coming from behind to lead 2-1 only to concede an equaliser at Caledonian Stadium.
But I think a point apiece was a fair reflection. Dundee had the better of it in the first half, but Caley Jags shaded the second half.
I would agree with the assessment that the referee was poor. He booked six players and there were a lot of niggly fouls which seemed to disrupt the game.
A point each was about right, but it is a result which did little to help either side in their efforts to stay in play-off contention.
Hearts’ demolition of Queen of the South on Friday has put them firmly in control at the top of the Championship and, while seven points is not insurmountable, it’s beginning to look like the playoffs are Caley Thistle’s best chance of going up this season.
They will be hoping to bounce back on Saturday when they travel to Alloa.
Morelos challenge didn’t merit red
I’ve expressed my doubts about Alfredo Morelos’ volatile nature in the past, but I don’t believe his challenge on Dundee United’s Mark Connolly merited a red card on Sunday.
Morelos escaped with a yellow and I can understand those who queried why it was not a red as I’ve seen other officials send players off for leading with the forearm when jumping for a high ball.
His arm was high, but I don’t think it was particularly dangerous.
Morelos strikes me as a guy who needs to play on the edge to be most effective.
Maybe trying to keep a cooler head takes something from his game.