Ross County must brace themselves for a tense final week of the Premiership campaign after they fell to a chastening defeat at home to Motherwell.
The Staggies paid the price for some slack defending as the Steelmen ran out convincing 5-1 winners – which brought Don Cowie’s unbeaten home record to a crashing halt.
Led by former County manager Stuart Kettlewell, a number of familiar faces came back to haunt the error-strewn Staggies.
Blair Spittal’s double and a late strike by Harry Paton, along with goals from Paul McGinn and Davor Zdravkovski, did the damage. Simon Murray had levelled the scoring early in the match, however it was a bad day at the office for County at both ends of the park.
County must quickly wipe this defeat from their system with just two games left – although they were handed a lifeline by Livingston’s late winner against St Johnstone.
That keeps the Staggies two points above Saints who continue to occupy the relegation play-off spot. It comes as a major blow to County’s goal difference however, ahead of the sides’ crucial meeting at McDiarmid Park on Wednesday.
Cowie was bitterly disappointed with the way Motherwell managed to score at will in the latter stages of the game – but he is grateful the Dingwall side’s fate remains in their own hands.
Cowie said: “We’ve gifted them two goals in the first half, and we got punished for it.
“The game was 2-1 with 10 minutes to go, and ultimately Motherwell have picked us off when we had to go for it.
“I have no issue with losing games of football, but we have to make sure it doesn’t spiral out of control like it did here.
“We have another massive game on Wednesday night, and we have to focus on that now.
“Nothing changes. We know that if we go to St Johnstone and win on Wednesday night, we’re safe, so it’s pretty simple what our goal has to be.”
Cowie went with an unchanged side from that which defeated Hibernian the previous weekend, which meant match-winner Jordan White remained on the bench in reserve to Eamonn Brophy and Murray.
It was Motherwell who started on the ascendancy, with Ross Laidlaw initially making a smart save to claw away a Georgie Gent cross on two minutes.
He was forced to make an outstanding save just moments later when Andy Halliday broke free just outside the box, with his effort looking goalbound until the goalkeeper made a wonderful fingertip save.
It was a lively opening stretch for Laidlaw, who was back in the thick of the action on nine minutes for the wrong reasons. A harmless ball upfield from opposite number Liam Kelly was destined for Laidlaw’s grasp, before he inexplicably fumbled the ball straight to the feet of Spittal was was afforded the easiest of tap-ins.
Laidlaw immediately acknowledged his blunder but his team-mates were immediately intent on bailing him out, as they responded within five minutes.
A loose ball fell for Eli King in his own half, who played an inch-perfect through ball to meet the run of Murray and, with Kelly exposed well out of his goal, the striker applied a cushioned finish to net his 20th of the campaign.
The Staggies created a raft of chances to take the lead, with Murray unable to find Brophy with a cut-back, before a sublime piece of play from Connor Randall saw him cut in from the left before attempting a chip over Kelly, which was cleared off the line by Shane Blaney.
Murray had another opportunity when he was played in by Michee Efete, but he was unable to direct his sidefooted effort on target.
The Staggies were punished for more defensive slackness on 40 minutes. It was another error from Laidlaw, who found himself caught well underneath a Gent free-kick which allowed the ball to fall to McGinn to tap home.
The goal survived a VAR check for offside which meant County trailed at the interval, although Ryan Leak saw a header tipped over by Kelly following a delivery from Yan Dhanda.
Cowie rang the changes at half-time, with Brophy, Leak and Josh Reid making way for White, Josh Sims and Loick Ayina.
The home side pushed for a leveller early in the second half, with Sims seeing a side-footed effort deflected wide, before White nodded a Dhanda corner over the bar.
Randall’s far post effort was blocked before Sims’ volleyed effort from an acute angle was well saved by Kelly.
Dhanda was next to threaten with a shot across goal which drifted wide, after he was played through by Efete.
County continued to push but they were to be undone by a sublime strike on 82 minutes when Theo Bair held the ball up for Spittal, who angled an effort home from the edge of the box.
The Steelmen added a fourth when Bair cut the ball back for Zdravkovski to tap home, with former Staggie Paton compounding County’s misery when he side-footed home in stoppage time.
Player Ratings
ROSS COUNTY (3-4-1-2): Laidlaw 5; Nightingale 6, Baldwin 6, Leak 5 (Ayina 46); Efete 7, Randall 6, King 6 (Khela 61), Reid 5 (Sims 46); Dhanda 6 (Henderson 76); Murray 6, Brophy 5 (White 46).
Subs not used: Wickens, Loturi, Harmon, Jenks.
MOTHERWELL (3-4-2-1): Kelly 6; Casey 7, McGinn 7, Blaney 7; O’Donnell 6 (Butcher 85), Halliday 6 (Zdravkovski 66), Miller 6 (Mugabi 85), Gent 8 (Devine 85); Nicholson 6 (Paton 66), Spittal 8; Bair 7.
Subs not used: Oxborough, Shaw, Moses, Ferrie.
Referee: Kevin Clancy
Attendance: 3,399
Man of the Match: Georgie Gent
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