IF there's anyone Ryan Fulton could have chosen to gift a gilt-edged opening to on Saturday, it would not have been a player who has made a career out of putting them in the back of the net.
Unfortunately for the Hamilton Accies keeper, he did just that when he dropped an Iain Virgus cross at the feet of Billy McKay, who happily obliged to rifle home his first goal of the season.
The Staggies' comfortable win in Lanarkshire made it two out of two for the Highlanders to open the season and, while their flying start has surprised some, the Northern Irishman says it's nothing less than Stuart Kettlewell's men expected.
READ MORE: Hamilton Accies 0-1 Ross County: Stuart Kettlewell tells confident Staggies to push on
“Maybe we have surprised some people, but I don’t think we have surprised ourselves," the 31-year-old-said. "We know the quality we have got in the dressing room.
“We have always had that mentality that everybody is against us. We are going to keep that and keep pushing ourselves in house to prove a lot of people wrong."
Long before Fulton's flap gifted McKay the goal, it had looked like Ross County were destined to head back up to Dingwall with all three points.
The Staggies controlled the game for large swathes of the play, thanks in no small part to the growing influence of skipper Vigurs and the invention of Harry Paton in attack.
The little Canadian again found himself playing just off the enticing front three of Lee Erwin, Ross Stewart, and McKay, the quartet defying their lack of pace with intelligent running and an understanding most forward lines take years to develop.
Whenever one of them picked up the ball, it was like a trigger for the other three, who gleefully galloped into the space behind Accies' backline to threaten the hosts' resolve.
In the first half, Erwin was unlucky to be denied by a brilliant Fulton block after Paton's lovely ball across the face. Later, McKay turned provider when he helped to tee up Stewart for his own chance. On that occasion, the post denied County.
In truth, it seemed Ross County's experience was always going to be the difference.
While Kettlewell could look to the likes of McKay and Vigurs to use their years in the game to exert control, it was a different story for Hamilton.
Rightly praised for their boldness against Celtic, Brice Rice's band of youngsters, with a compliment of experienced heads, couldn't be faulted for their effort, but struggled to match the visitors' game management.
They could look to young wingers Lewis and Callum Smith, both 20, for inspiration in attack, the latter's near post strike forcing County stopper Ross Laidlaw into his first - and only - real action of the game.
Eventually, the experienced County heads told when Fulton dropped the ball for McKay to rifle home at the second attempt near the death.
"It’s great to get six points out of six, you can’t ask for any better," McKay added. “We’ve got two home games now, so we will definitely be looking to take some points from those games as well."
Hamilton remain pointless after two games but will hope to get off the mark if their visit to Pittodrie on Wednesday goes ahead. Aberdeen’s last fixture against St Johnstone was postponed following the club’s Covid-19 fiasco
"As a player I don’t have any fears about going up to Aberdeen to play them," said Hamilton winger David Templeton. "I am sure their squad will be tested again before we head up there.
"Hopefully everything will be fine and we can go up there and play.
READ MORE: Jonny Hayes breaks Aberdeen silence as ex-Celtic star expresses remorse for error of judgement
"We just have to approach it like it is another game and not think about everything else.
"We only have to worry about trying to get the three points, regardless of what team Aberdeen put out. Even if they have boys missing then they still have a strong squad, so we know we have to go there and be a lot better than we were against Ross County. We can’t worry about them.
"Aberdeen have a strong squad and yes they will have a few boys missing but they have plenty of other experienced boys who can come in and take their place."
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