Ross County’s Premier Sports Cup campaign is up and running after hard-earned 1-0 victory against League 1 visitors Dunfermline Athletic.
Ex-Doncaster Rovers hitman Jordy Hiwula opened his Staggies account with a priceless second half winner in a tie lacking bite and fire until that breakthrough.
It means after two games, County are locked with Tuesday’s hosts Alloa Athletic on five points, one behind leaders Dunfermline, who have played one match more.
Jordy Hiwula opened his County account this weekend with a superb looping header to secure maximum points in Dingwall 😍
Replaying this for the rest of the weekend 👀#Staggies 🦌 pic.twitter.com/5NtiJ61uef
— Ross County FC (@RossCounty) July 16, 2022
The Pars, who dropped from the Championship into League 1 in April, now have James McPake in charge and they arrived at the Global Energy Stadium as Group C front-runners.
Back-to-back wins against East Fife and Highland League runners-up Buckie Thistle gave them real incentive to go for the win and all but seal a knock-out berth with a tie to spare.
County, who finished sixth in the Premiership in May, were determined to add to the two points they collected from their opening match penalty shoot-out at Buckie last weekend.
County were hit by successive 3-0 defeats by the SPFL last year due to Covid decimating their squad and having to forfeit matches, so have the extra motivation to try and get through this time.
The Staggies took their summer rebuild to nine new signings last week when experienced right-back Callum Johnson joined on a two-year deal after being freed by Portsmouth.
However, he began the day on the bench, with the only changes from the Buckie tie being the promotion of goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw and winger Josh Sims to the starting 11.
The Fifers made juts one change from their 5-0 breeze against Buckie, with Craig Wighton replacing Kyle Macdonald.
New arrivals show attacking flashes
It took time for the tie to settle, but the early flashes of speed from winger Owura Edwards and forward Jordy Hiwula was encouraging from a County point of view.
Dunfermline’s first attack of note when right-back Aaron Comrie charged forward, but was closed out by sheer numbers after 20 minutes.
The best chance of the first half arrived on 33 minutes when, from a Chris Hamilton cross, home keeper Ross Laidlaw dived to push away Lewis McCann’s header before Wighton’s follow-up flew wide.
That was about it in a first half low in quality overall.
Hiwula nets home breakthrough goal
It didn’t improve much in the early stages of the second half, with the Fifers having the best of the forays forward, without giving Laidlaw too much to do other than pluck crosses out of the sky.
On the hour mark, striker Dominic Samuel and winger Kazeem Olaigbe came on for Edwards and Dhanda in a bid to provide a home spark.
And, a few minutes later, County took the lead on 64 minutes. A corner, earned by Ben Paton, was not dealt with and a lethal headed finish from Hiwula gave goalkeeper Deniz Mehmet no chance.
Wighton almost earned the visitors the equaliser on 70 minutes, but the striker’s header came off the crossbar and sub Nikolay Todorov’s follow-up was blocked and cleared.
Dunfermline applied late pressure, but could not find a way through and the Staggies’ qualification bid stays fully on track.
County head to League 1 opponents Alloa Athletic on Tuesday night before finishing the group stages at home to League 2 visitors East Fife next Saturday.
The Pars will round off their group-stage ties at home to Alloa next weekend.
ROSS COUNTY (4-2-3-1) – Laidlaw 7, Randall 6, Purrington 6, Iacovitti 6, Edwards 6 (Olaigbe 60), Callachan 6, Dhanda 6 (Samuel 60), Sims 6 (White 64), Watson 6, Hiwula 7 (Loturi 82), Paton 6 (Cancola 64). Subs not used – Eastwood (GK), Baldwin, Johnson, Tillson.
DUNFERMLINE ATHLETIC (4-3-1-2) – Mehmet 6, Comrie 7, Edwards 6, Benedictus 6 (Macdonald 87), Hamilton 6 (Chalmers 78), O’Hara 6 (Todorov 66), Wighton 6, Breen 6, McCann 6, Allan 6, Todd 6. Subs not used – Archibald, Fenton, Rennie, Beagley, Young, Tod.
Referee – Nick Walsh.
Attendance – 943.
Man of the match – Jordy Hiwula.
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