Celebration Hardie Style

Unique goal celebration explained as scorer of five goals in the last five games looks out his crash helmet

It was only Dunfermline`s second ever win at Dingwall and when you score the goal that puts your team top of the league, you would think that you might at least look happy. Instead Martin Hardie pushed away Andy Dowie and look decidedly non plussed. Was because he had just been bumped off free kick duty and instructed to get into the box? No, Martin claims that his delay in taking up his position for Joe Cardle`s 93rd minute free kick was not because he wanted to take it, it was just a decoy!

"Nobody knew it was a decoy apart from myself though; nobody picked me up when I went into the box. I just got myself right in the middle of the goal and the big boy who was picking me up all through the game didn`t pick me up. I managed to get my head on it to score the goal.

"Usually I would run away but I jarred my back on Monday in training and it was a bit stiff during the game. Obviously I know that guys want to jump on you when you score but I was warning them off because of my sore back. I was fighting them off but it just shows you how much of a team sprit we have - it doesn`t matter who scores but when somebody does score it we are all there celebrating."

It was Martin`s height that proved to be so important and naturally he was delighted on a personal level that he has scored five goals in the last five games:-

"It was good for me to score such an important goal, long may that continue but we have got to remember that gives other teams a game in hand. There will come a Saturday when we will be sitting, as others were on Tuesday night, waiting to see the other results coming in.

"It is not so much about what happens elsewhere it is about what we do. As long as we take care of ourselves, individually and collectively as a team then something could hopefully happen at the end of the season."

Martin praised the contest that Jimmy Calderwood`s team made of this game brought forward because of the Staggies Alba Challenge Cup Final against Queen of the South on Sunday 10th April:-

"Ross County have improved in recent weeks since the last time we came to Dingwall. They took Morton`s scalp on Saturday so we knew that in coming up here we were in for a hard game. That`s what it proved to be and they could be three vital points because coming to Dingwall is hard enough but coming midweek is quite demanding. Sitting in a bus all cramped up and then trying to get loosened up.

"There weren`t too many clear cut chances although I thought Pat was going to score just before I did. As long as we come away with three points you can score in the first minute and hang on for 89 minutes or you can score in 89 and hang on for a minute."

It certainly was a trying game to watch from the sidelines but it suddenly became great with the late goal, two and a half minutes into added time:-

"We are at the time in the season where it is not about playing silky football; this is the business end of the season and its all about getting points on the boards. Whether people like the way we are playing , at the end of the day if we can manage to get three points every time we come off the pitch then that will stand us in good stead."

Looking ahead to Saturday`s penultimate away game of the campaign at Cowdenbeath, Martin jested that he still might not allow his team mates to jump on him if he was fortunate enough to score again.  He also seemed to forget that it wasn`t stock car racing this week:-

"We are looking forward to that game now. They are another team who are improving as well in the last five or six weeks so Central Park will be a hard place to go. It will be a case of digging in and getting the crash helmets on and make sure we come away with as many points as we can. Sometimes you just have to dig in. It is not about playing silky football but about grafting hard. We did that at Dingwall and looking back at the result it could prove to be a big result for us."

Match Report: 29/03/11 - Ross County 0 Dunfermline 1
Managers Post Ross County  . Match Pictures.