Ok, I’ve said it plenty of times by now: but I really struggled to keep up daily writing routines when I was teaching full time. That’s what happens to me when I spend most of the day supporting 70 other people’s writing, and the rest of it trying to be a parent.

So rather than write one post covering six months of eleven teams in action, I’m going to break it up with posts as best as I can, I’ll fill you in on how the games have gone, who has excelled and any other news and stories worth knowing.

Match Results: 9 W – 4 D – 8 L; 36 GF / 41 GA

The last time we saw the Staggies, they were hoping to avoid another late season slog to stay above the relegation zone. There was a tremendous home win against Rangers, but a rough February and March led them to another round in the relegation region of the Scottish Premiership.

With every match increasingly important, the Staggies had to turn it on, but a brutal 4-0 loss to Motherwell left them behind St. Johnstone’s in goal difference and forced them to another relegation playoff, this year against Raith Rovers. Fortunately, this time there was no need to push for penalty kicks as they won both legs and secured another season in Scotland’s top competition.

After a number of offseason departures, the Stags had a perfect group stage in the League Cup looking the part of a top team. That completely came unraveled against Spartans, a League 2 side, who stood their ground and ended up leaving the Stags a little shell shocked, though not totally amazed given that they only have gotten 1 goal in their last 270 minutes of play.

Other Stories:

Derek Adams got a well earned boot out the door in February and the Stags turned to Don Cowie, who (fun fact) was born just 1 day before your mom! Unlike your mom, Don trained and debuted with Ross County and launched a strong career that took him all the way to the vaunted English Premier League before he ended up back at County right at the start of my blog writing days. As a local lad made good and proud to return home he has oodles of good well and also seems to be not a jerk (which is a big step up from the last couple Stags managers)

Star Players:

It’s impossible to talk about the salvation of the Staggies without mentioning the work of midfield maestro Yan Dhanda and the team’s strongest goal scorer, Simon Murray. They gave a difficult job their all and the Staggies wouldn’t still be in the premier league without them. As they move on to other clubs and challenges we wish them the best.

Equally important in County’s survival was captain and fellow central midfield stalwart Connor Randall, along with goalie Ross Laidlaw. But perhaps most influential has been the emergence of two more powerful defenders in Ryan Leak and loanee Will Nightingale (who has served as something of a brick wall for most of the Leagues Cup).