Ross County vs Kilmarnock. Scottish Premiership.
Global Energy Stadium.
Match report as Billy McKay cancels out Kyle Lafferty's opener and first Kilmarnock goal in the opening period; Leo Hjelde and McKay hit quickly after half-time to seal Ross County win; Lafferty penalty not enough to inspire Kilmarnock, who have Ross Millen sent off late on
Saturday 6 March 2021 20:30, UK
A quickfire double at the start of the second half helped earn Ross County a 3-2 win at home to relegation rivals Kilmarnock, who dropped to the bottom of the Scottish Premiership table.
Kyle Lafferty put the visitors ahead in the 18th minute, only for Billy Mckay to equalise seven minutes before half-time, and two goals in the space of three minutes shortly after the restart from Leo Hjelde and Mckay again had County in cruise control.
A 77th-minute penalty from Lafferty reduced the deficit to one, but Kilmarnock, who had Ross Millen sent off at the death, could not salvage anything in Dingwall as they slipped below Hamilton to the foot of the standings.
Lafferty showed his striker's instincts to open the scoring. Having seen his powerful long-range effort blocked, the ball ricocheting off a couple of players, he ignored the handball shouts of those around him, to fire the rebound into the net.
Mckay tapped home a brilliant cross from the right by Jason Naismith to bring County level and the Staggies burst into life at the start of the second half.
Within 70 seconds of the restart they were in front, with Naismith again the provider as he found Hjelde in acres of space to pick his spot and beat Colin Doyle for his first senior goal.
Kilmarnock had barely recovered before Mckay scored his second of the game, bringing down Jordan Tillson's ball forward and powering his shot into the net.
Mckay then had a shout for a penalty after being brought down by Brandon Haunstrup, but the referee waved those appeals away.
Euan Anderson did point to the spot at the other end with just under 15 minutes left on the clock, though.
In attempting to usher the ball out of play, Keith Watson resorted to pulling down Greg Kiltie to ensure the Killie man could not gain possession.
Lafferty stepped up to score his second, but Kilmarnock could not find an equaliser to take a point back down to Ayrshire.
And their misery was complete when Millen was shown a second yellow card for dissent deep into added time.
Ross County manager John Hughes said: "It was all about the result. I don't think it was a great game of football, but there was plenty of action in it. It's all about getting the result and I felt we showed great character coming from a goal down.
"Everyone played their part, but I'm delighted for Billy. He's found himself out of the team, but he's a goal-scorer.
"He's never changed. When I first went into Inverness I thought Billy was left-footed. I only realised after a month he was a natural goal-scorer.
"He's bitterly disappointed he's not been playing football. I tried to press a few buttons with him the other day - I said I was struggling to get him in the squad. He said, 'All I want to do is play football'. Good, you're playing.
"I don't know if that was part of it. I know Billy and he's got plenty to give. He wants to repay Ross County and, like any player, he feels the frustration when he's not playing. Do that and you'll stay in the team every week."
Kilmarnock manager Tommy Wright said: "Overall if you defend like we did for the three goals, you don't deserve anything out of the game. We've got to look at ourselves long and hard and it's obvious it's got to be better.
"After dealing with their early pressure where they didn't work the goalkeeper, we got ourselves in front and we shouldn't have let them back in before half-time but we did.
"We've only ourselves to blame for being 3-1 down. It doesn't matter what we did after that, because we lost a game we should have won and that we were in control of."
Ross County face Hibernian next weekend in the Scottish Premiership before an away trip to St Johnstone on Saturday March 20. On the same day, Kilmarnock host Motherwell.
