Ross County vs Motherwell. Scottish Premiership.
Global Energy StadiumAttendance2,835.
Report as Ross County ran out 3-0 winners over Motherwell; Simon Murray, Yan Dhanda and Ben Purrington scored for the hosts, who had Will Nightingale sent off late on; Stuart Kettlewell: "I feel very sorry for the fans that came because the better decision would be to stay in the house"
Tuesday 5 December 2023 23:59, UK
Derek Adams continued an impressive start to his third Ross County reign as a 3-0 victory over Motherwell left his former player Stuart Kettlewell under increasing pressure.
County have now taken seven points from three games without conceding a goal since Adams returned from Morecambe to replace Malky Mackay.
Former County player and manager Kettlewell has seen his extended honeymoon period in charge at Fir Park thoroughly collapse. Well have now gone 12 Premiership games without a win and taken just four points in that run, which hit a new low in Dingwall.
The Steelmen conceded the opening goal for the 11th time in those 12 games when Simon Murray headed home from a second-minute corner.
They had an even bigger task facing them inside 18 minutes when Yan Dhanda curled home an excellent finish from 22 yards.
Ben Purrington scored from the rebound in the second half to round off County's first win over their visitors in seven attempts.
County were unchanged from last Tuesday's win over St Mirren while Kettlewell had Callum Slattery back from suspension and also brought in Theo Bair and Conor Wilkinson, the latter starting in an advanced midfield role.
The Staggies took the lead when Murray met James Brown's inswinging delivery at the near post and glanced home his 11th goal of the season. Blair Spittal claimed he had been pushed from behind by Murray, but there was a relatively short delay before the game restarted.
It was the seventh time in as many games that a corner had directly or indirectly led to a goal against Motherwell.
Well initially threatened a comeback. Bair came close from 20 yards and Ross Laidlaw made a good double stop from Slattery and Stephen O'Donnell.
But County doubled their lead when Dhanda collected the ball, drifted inside of Wilkinson and had time to whip the ball inside far post.
It could have got worse for the visitors before half-time. Murray saw a shot deflected off the post from 20 yards and headed just over from another corner. A slick passing move then cut Mothewell open but Connor Randall shot straight at Liam Kelly.
Kettlewell made three substitutions at the break as Georgie Gent, Davor Zdravkovski and Calum Butcher came on.
But it was too easy for the hosts as they went further ahead in the 56th minute. Dhanda crossed after a good passing interchange, Jordan White's free header was only parried by Kelly and Purrington was free to knock home the rebound.
The flag went up for offside, but it looked a straightforward decision to overturn in the VAR centre.
Motherwell showed some signs of a response. Gent had a header tipped over and Mika Biereth flicked a good chance wide before seeing an effort cleared off the line by Jack Baldwin.
But the hosts could also have added to their lead with Victor Loturi and Simon Murray coming close.
The only down side for County was a stoppage-time red card for Will Nightingale, who received two quickfire yellow cards.
Motherwell's misery was compounded by a serious injury in stoppage time for defender Dan Casey, who was carried off the pitch on a stretcher after his team-mates had gone down the tunnel.
Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell:
"Everyone knows how difficult that road can be in winter and how far away it is and we had a group of fans who came up here to support the team in the hope we'd put on a performance, and it was miles away from what it has to be when people spend that cash and time to come up here.
"And there's a bit of shame in that when you see people travelling up here and that's the level they get.
"I feel very, very sorry for the supporters that came here because, having seen it, the better decision would be to stay in the house.
"The level of performance was so far removed from where it needs to be to be competitive in this league.
"Then add in the injuries to Butcher and Casey, when you piece all that together along with the troubles and difficult run we're on, that makes it the toughest ever game for me to watch.
"You have to scrap and fight your way out of it and I didn't see an awful lot of that in the first 45 minutes in particular. You can see the dent it has conceding that early goal.
"So much of it becomes that mentality, a little bit of fear coming in and people maybe not looking for the ball.
"You have to have belief in yourself, envisage there's a way out of it and trust in the guys around about you to make sure that happens.
"My greatest frustration is I'm dealing with a group of players who have shown that in spade loads during my time at the club and for whatever reason at this minute in time it's coming up seriously short."
Ross County manager Derek Adams:
"I was delighted for the players, because we started quickly - as we have done in all three games. Murray got his header - he was brilliant tonight [Tuesday], ran the line well. Him and White caused them problems, Dhanda off the front too.
"I've been conscious to look at anything else, I can't change the past. I can only look at the present and I said that to the players. I don't care who you are, what you've done, it's from today onwards that matters to me.
"Tonight, what Dhanda did was get a goal and an assist. He needs that. He's got undoubted talent and off the ball he was very good too. Randall and Allardice were excellent too, defensively we were sound. The only downside was Will getting sent off late in the game."
"You always look at your former team and former players, but I'm only concerned with Ross County. That's who I have to look after. Tonight was about beating Motherwell, and let's be honest - they wouldn't care about us."
Ross County's next Scottish Premiership match away to St Mirren on Saturday with Motherwell host St Johnstone.
Both games kick-off at 3pm.
