JORDAN White delighted his new manager John Hughes on Sunday night when he netted a second-half winner against Celtic that lifted Ross County off bottom spot in the Premiership table.
But the Bellshill-born striker, who joined the Dingwall club from Motherwell last month, knew that his Rangers-daft relations watching on television at home would be even more overjoyed.
The unexpected 1-0 triumph his header secured edged the Ibrox club, who are 18 points clear of them at the top of the league, that bit closer to their first Scottish title since 2011.
Steven Gerrard’s men can now clinch the top flight trophy if they draw the third Old Firm game of the 2020/21 campaign at Parkhead on March 21 – if not before. “I’ve got a lot of happy people in my family,” said White. “I grew up that way and it is what it is.”
However, the 29-year-old, who started his career at Rangers as a youth player, is personally far more concerned with the implications of the result for County; the victory at the weekend saw the Highlanders move above both Hamilton and Kilmarnock in the Premiership with nine games remaining.
However, White, who has now netted twice in three games for Hughes’s side, knows there is still a lot of football to be played before anything is decided and is keen to maintain his form up front.
“I’m here at Ross County and I’ve got a job to do here,” he said. “That’s my main focus. I’ll try and keep my feet on the ground and concentrate on us. At the end of the day we are not out of the water yet and that’s my main aim. Hopefully we can back it up again on Saturday (against St Mirren in Paisley).
“It was a massive three points, which gets us off the bottom of the table. I don’t think anyone gave us a chance going into the game. To get the three points is really good.
“The gaffer told us every game is going to be a cup final. We have set the benchmark for the last nine games. We have got this victory and now we’ve got to go and back that up.
“It’s no good just beating Celtic and then not doing it anywhere else. We will enjoy it but we’ve still got a long way to go.”
White continued: “It’s the old cliche of taking one game at a time, but that’s the way it is. We are not out of the water yet, but this gives us a really good platform.
“We beat Hamilton who went four points behind us, but they went on a good run and we found ourselves bottom of the league.
“It’s not somewhere we want to be, so to get straight back off there is pleasing. We’ve got a game in hand on Kilmarnock as well.”
White knows that County, who knocked Celtic out of the Betfred Cup with a 2-0 win at Parkhead back in November, will receive a lift from their triumph.
“I wasn’t here the first time we beat Celtic, but we have beaten them twice this season,” he said. “We’ve got to take a lot of heart from that. Yes, they might not be firing on all cylinders, but they are still Celtic and they are still a good team.
“We defended really well. We were more disciplined in the way we played and we soaked up the pressure. They had more of the ball, but when the chance came thankfully we took it.
“We have got the players in the team we need. Since I have come here, I’ve felt every game I’m going to get a chance. It might only be one chance, but I just need to concentrate and make sure I hit the target and give myself the best opportunity of scoring.”
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