Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

County striker Alex Schalk looking forward to squaring up against an old friend

Schalk left Ross County in summer 2018.
Schalk left Ross County in summer 2018.

Ross County striker Alex Schalk has said his friendship with former team-mate Kenny van der Weg will be the last thing on his mind when the pair square up against each other on Saturday.

The Dutch duo are close friends having come through the ranks at NAC Breda together and were reunited when full back van der Weg arrived at Dingwall in 2016.

Van der Weg left the Staggies in January and signed with relegation rivals Hamilton Accies and has been quick to make his feelings known to Schalk about how he sees his new team’s trip to Victoria Park unfolding.

Schalk said: “It’s been going back and forth between us about Saturday. We’re good pals, we’ve known each other for years and we were sharing a place here as well.

“Getting to play against Kenny will be nice but there are no friends when the whistle goes, whether he’s playing or not.

“We’ve been up against each other in a relegation battle before in Holland. I was with Go Ahead and he was with Breda.

“We won that game at home but they won the other one when they were at home and we both ended up getting relegated at the end of the season, so let’s not go there.

“In Holland three can get relegated and here a maximum of two, let’s hope Hamilton is one of them and not us.”

County have been struggling and sit four points adrift of second-bottom Partick Thistle but Schalk, 25, has been in fine form, with five goals from his last five appearances.

He would love to continue his purple patch in front of goal but admits he’d happily swap it if it meant grabbing some points for new co-managers Stuart Kettlewell and Steven Ferguson.

“As a striker you just try to score in every game,” Schalk said. “I’m scoring goals now and I hope to continue because scoring the 3-2 against Kilmarnock doesn’t get us any points on the board so I’d rather save that for Hamilton.”

County’s players have spoken of the positive atmosphere around the club since Kettlewell and Ferguson were handed the reins until the end of the season after Owen Coyle left the club and Schalk is desperate to help the pair get their first win.

He added: “You always have to give a new manager time but there isn’t really any.

“We’re training with a lot of really good ideas that we want to implement into our game but short-term it’s about points, that’s the main thing.”