Ross County vs Livingston. Scottish Premiership.
Global Energy StadiumAttendance300.
Report as Oli Shaw heads in first-half opener at Victoria Park before Nicky Devlin levels from Scott PItman's low cross as Livingston hold Ross County in front of 300 fans at Victoria Park
Saturday 7 November 2020 00:02, UK
Supporters were back in the Global Energy Stadium to watch an entertaining 1-1 draw between Ross County and Livingston.
Oli Shaw scored his second goal in as many weeks in the 28th minute to put the Staggies ahead in front of 300 home fans, but Livingston came back fighting after the interval.
Nicky Devlin ended up being the man to save a point for the Lions, turning Scott Pittman's cross into the net.
Stuart Kettlewell made four changes to his Staggies line-up, picking the same 11 players who finished the match against Dundee United last time out as he tried to find a winning formula.
Livingston made brought three new faces into their own starting line-up, with Alan Forrest, Scott Robertson and Steve Lawson all coming into the team.
The evening got off to a cagey start though, with neither side threatening to break the deadlock.
Jay Emmanuel-Thomas had a golden opportunity to put the visitors in front in the 16th minute, when a group of Staggies defenders missed a throw-in.
That gave the Arsenal youth product time to turn and shoot - only for his effort to blaze well off-target.
There was a moment of concern for County when stand-in captain Michael Gardyne required treatment after being brought down by Devlin, but that turned to joy when Shaw scored from the dead ball.
On-loan Rangers midfielder Stephen Kelly took the free-kick, keeping it low but in the air, and Shaw stooped to connect with the ball and guide it past Max Stryjek into the far corner.
A much brighter start to the second half brought Livingston into the game though, and their perseverance would pay off in the 55th minute.
Coll Donaldson was dragged wide to deal with the ball but, as he tried to switch positions back with Tom Grivosti, Pittman made a dangerous run down the left wing.
With players out of position, he had the time to send a dangerous ball across the face of goal, where Devlin slid in to draw the Lions level.
Though the match was finely poised going into the final minutes, there were not the fireworks in front of goal that spectators may have expected 24 hours after Bonfire Night.
There was plenty of intensity, but neither goalkeeper had a save to make at the end of the match, which ended with nothing to separate the sides.
Ross County manager Stuart Kettlewell: "We speak about it a lot, if you get your nose in front you want to hold that lead and try and build on it, so the frustration for me was that we weren't able to keep that clean sheet I thought our play merited it to be honest, we dealt with the combative nature of Livingston.
"We had a lot of young players out on the pitch, and I believe they will come out of that match better for having to deal with the physical contact. When they got to play, I thought they showed decent imagination in the middle of the pitch as well, so there's a lot of positives. We're in the business of trying to win football matches though, so we need to see if we can take that extra step."
Livingston manager Gary Holt: "We got right in their faces and made it uncomfortable for them, but saying that I don't think we were under too much pressure in the first half. I asked them at half-time to come in with no 'if only's', and I got that - they came in and they were bust.
"That's all I ask, we spoke earlier in the week about what Livingston are synonymous with - hard work and ugly, but we can play football at times when we get it in the right areas. We needed to get back to that, and I certainly think that's what I got."
Ross County's next game is against Elgin City in the Scottish League Cup on Tuesday night; Kick-off at 7.45pm.
Livingston also face a League Cup trip to Stenhousemuir on the same night; Kick-off at 7.30pm.
