SCOTT FOX was repeatedly asked one question when he left Partick Thistle in the summer for Ross County.
And that was; "Why are you going all the way up there?" Fox is delighted his decision to move north has proven to be the right one.
A League Cup semi-final with Celtic comes at the end of January and the way things are going, County will feel as if they could pull off a shock given how well this team have played since Jim McIntyre and Billy Dodds took over at the start of this year.
Fox, who began his career at Celtic, said: "When you take the club as a whole, everything is going well. The way we have performed shows that the gaffer has worked wonders, backed up by the chairman who gave them what they needed.
"It’s a good club to be at right now and I’m enjoying it. Everyone is asking me ‘why did you move to Dingwall?’ but as you can tell I’m enjoying my football and felt at the time it was the right decision.
“Lots of folk from down here do look at the fixtures and go ‘Ross County away – I don’t fancy that’. But it’s actually easy enough to drive. The journey is three hours. You just get head down and drive.
“I live in Inverness and really enjoy it. Honestly, it’s great. My girlfriend loves it as well. It’s a great place to live. Nice, chilled and relaxed; people let you get on with things."
Fox, who is a fine keeper, injured himself coming for a ball in the Highland derby, right in front of the Inverness supporters. He is only getting back after over a month out.
As you might imagine, sympathy was in short supply when his setback happened.
Fox said: "I tore two ligaments off the bone on the outside and two grade twos on the inside.
"It was really serious. It was one of those that was nearly an operation. I think the physio was shocked it was not an op. I kind of got lucky that way. I was two weeks in a boot and then I've taken it from there.
"I went to punch the ball and as I've come down I've landed on the outside, so I twisted it one way and Marcus (Fraser) has fallen on the inside.
"I felt it at the time - especially when the physio was trying to run on. You can always hear the fans in the background shouting 'get up, you p****!' It was a derby too, so I timed it perfectly.
"I'm ahead of schedule. They said roughly 8-10 weeks, and I'm at five weeks just now. Hopefully I'll be back after the Motherwell game, or maybe even the Motherwell game. It depends on how it reacts, but I'll maybe be in the squad.
"I've been be climbing the walls. When part of the rehab is walking again, it's a bit harsh.
"It was a case of getting the boot off and seeing if I could get my heel on the ground. For the first two days I couldn't."
Back in 2010, County then in the lower leagues beat Celtic in a Scottish Cup semi-final and deservedly so.
And, of course, you just have to go back to April to recall Inverness doing the very same.
"Let's hope history can repeat itself," said Fox. "A semi-final is a big match, but it's a game of football. It's just two teams.
"Obviously it's a difficult draw. I'm not going to lie, it's not the draw we wanted, but they're there to be beaten. If we're going to win it, we're going to have to beat the best teams.
"It's up to us to perform on the day. It can be done, and we'll be going in there with that mentality. Hopefully we've got a final to look forward to.
"There have been a few different winners of trophies. It would be nice to see Ross County up there as well. St Johnstone have done it, while Dundee United have been in a few finals as well.
"Other than Celtic the gap is pretty small, so it's just about trying to knock them out, and then it's up for grabs."
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