Ross County vs Hamilton Academical. Scottish Premiership.
Global Energy Stadium.
Match report as Ross County remain rock bottom in the Scottish Premiership following home defeat to fellow strugglers Hamilton; County boss Stuart Kettlewell relieved of his duties after full-time
Saturday 19 December 2020 22:19, UK
Hamilton grabbed a valuable 2-0 win in Dingwall to move four points clear of fellow strugglers Ross County, who remain rock bottom of the Premiership and sacked boss Stuart Kettlewell after the match.
The 36-year-old was relieved of his duties following full-time with County four points behind second-bottom Hamilton and without a win in the Premiership since September.
Kettlewell, who took charge in March 2018 with co-manager with Steven Ferguson, admitted the decision was a "sore one" for him but said he bore no hard feelings to the club.
"It is a sore one as I want to fight and scrap and do the best I can for the football club," he said after hearing of his sacking. "I have done that for a long period of time but results aren't good enough and we find ourselves bottom of the table and cut ourselves adrift on the back of the result today.
"I understand football and there is no ill feeling from me towards the football club or the chairman. I am grateful for the opportunity, there has been a lot of high points.
"It is a bad day for me and the football club. I wish them success moving forward and where they go next and hopefully somebody can get a tune out of them and get to a situation where they are not sitting at the foot of the table."
Goals in either half from Ross Callachan and Scott Martin gave Accies three points as Brian Rice's men put daylight between themselves and last place.
The Staggies had a big chance to take the lead after five minutes when Michael Gardyne timed his run perfectly to beat the offside trap and run on to a Callum Morris long ball.
He charged into the box and managed to get a shot around defender Brian Easton but fired wide of the right post.
Hamilton responded when David Moyo's cross from the right wing found Callachan in the box, but from 12 yards out he fired wide of the left post.
Ross County threatened after a counter-attack saw Gardyne have a chance at goal, but saw his shot blocked by a panicked Hamilton defence.
Ross Stewart pounced on the rebound and found a way through a crowd of defenders with a low drive that was saved comfortably by goalkeeper Ryan Fulton.
But Accies made the breakthrough midway through the first half when Callachan connected with a cross from the left wing at the edge of the box. The 27-year-old thundered a low drive past goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw into the bottom left corner of the net from 18 yards.
The Staggies claimed for a penalty just before half-time when they felt Oli Shaw had been pushed to prevent him reaching a free-kick in the box. But referee Willie Collum waved play on.
County continued to press for an equaliser after the break, with Stewart forcing a good save from Fulton after he beat the Hamilton defence in the air to Keith Watson's cross.
But Accies doubled their advantage midway through the second half when Martin picked up the ball in the midfield. He was allowed to charge into the box before firing a low drive into the bottom left corner from 12 yards out.
Moyo was denied a third for Hamilton after latching on to a pass from midfield, with Laidlaw alert to the danger to block his effort.
But County rarely threatened to pull one back as they will face a fight after the new year to avoid dropping into the Championship.
Hamilton boss Brian Rice: "It's a fantastic result and I thought a really good performance, a strong performance - typical Hamilton.
"It was a Hamilton-like display and I asked for that before the game. Let's get back to being ugly, aggressive, in their faces and let's get a clean sheet.
"We did all of those things today and scored two really good goals. I know the strengths of Ross County. They get wide and get really good balls into the box.
"We knew we had to defend the box really well today and we all did that - and I include our goalkeeper in that. We knew what was coming but I also felt we would get chances at the other end, and so it proved."
Ross County travel to face Celtic on Wednesday at 6pm while Hamilton host Livingston at the same time.
