Wilkie’s Dingwall Debut Goes Badly

Lee Wilkie made his first appearance for Ross County last weekend, but even the 26-year old Scottish International couldn’t prevent the might Gretna from scoring.

The Dundee United defender joined the 1st division side last week and will remain at Dingwall for a 1-month loan period.

Craig Levein wants Wilkie to get some more match practice before he can return to the Dundee United 1st team, so has been trying to arrange a short-term loan for the defender since November.

An ankle knock postponed a proposed loan deal with Livingston last month and Levein wanted to wait until after the Scottish Cup weekend before concluding any deal, just incase Lee Wilkie ended-up getting cup tied.

Ross County are keen to take full advantage of Wilkie`s experience and threw him in at the deep-end in their clash with league leaders Gretna last Saturday, but a 66th minute winner from Colin McMenamin gave the visitors all 3 points.

Manager Scott Leitch`s side are currently 3rd bottom of the table, just 2 points ahead of bottom side Queen Of The South, but they play their relegation rivals in a few weeks at home and Wilkie is likely to feature in the County team line-up.

“Lee is a fantastic addition to our squad. He is a 6ft 5in defender who has played for Scotland 11 times,” said Ross County boss Scott Leitch.

“Not only is Lee an outstanding defender with an eye for goal, but it`s great to have someone with the experience that he has both in the SPL and with Scotland involved in training.”

“The drive and determination he has shown in coming back from what threatened to be a career ending injury is a great example for our younger players.”

Wilkie can play in any of Ross County’s forthcoming league matches, including Airdrie(a), QOS(h), StJohnstone(a) and Hamilton(h), but both clubs have agreed that he will play no part in the Scottish Cup match against Partick Thistle on 6th January.