Noah Chilvers spent 14 years of his youth and early senior career carving out a decent reputation for promise and talent at Colchester United.
That said, making the leap from relative obscurity in England to an impactful role in Ross County’s Premiership ambitions was never a given.
It is a transition the 23-year-old seems to be making with minimum fuss.
Chilvers’ 10th appearance for County proved his best yet, with two moments of quality from dead ball situations creating the goals after producing the turn of pace and technique that suckered Killie’s Liam Donnelly into a second yellow card offence.
The young Englishman still has it all to prove in the top-flight, but looks capable of justifying the faith County manager Don Cowie placed in him while splashing out an unspecified fee in the summer.
The marauding midfielder’s free-kick, soon after the red card, led to Jordan White’s leveller, before his viciously dipping corner kick forced Joe Wright to turn the winner into his own net.
Cowie enthused: “Noah is a real quality player.
“He would be slightly frustrated in terms of hitting the target with a couple of attempts, but it’s his two deliveries that get us our goals.
“He was a little bit behind the group in the summer, but we’ve got a lot of belief of what he can do in this league.
“His run led to the sending off, and he needs to have that belief in himself.
“His qualities are different to the other attacking midfielders we have, and it’s about him showing that on a consistent basis.”
The perfect response to Perth loss
Cowie was clearly thrilled by the way his players responded to the previous weekend’s hammerblow of a 3-0 defeat away to St Johnstone.
He stressed: “You want to win games of football.
“You see the impact that can have on the league table, and I’ve spoken about how strong our performances have been at home, so it was a really important three points.”
“I spoke to the group prior to the game about fighting their corner against Kilmarnock.
“They make it difficult for you, and for the first half hour we did the basics really well to stand up to it.
“We came off it slightly for 10 minutes, and that’s where we got punished.
“In the second half, it was about having a bit more intent and threat, and the sending off has a bearing on that but we earned that with Noah Chilvers turning and running away from his opponent.
“We still had to try and take advantage of that, and we did so really well.”
Killie came north six games unbeaten after their Rangers triumph, but may also have been conscious of having not won on their previous seven visits to Dingwall.
County were looking to add to just a solitary victory in the league so far.
Cowie made five changes from the poor 3-0 defeat in Perth, with Chilvers, Aidan Denholm, Josh Reid, Jordan White and James Brown returning.
Out went Scott Allardice, suspended Eli Campbell, Josh Nisbet, Michee Efete and Eamonn Brophy.
Driving rain greeted the players at kick-off on a rain-soaked, but spotless Victoria Park.
Sadly, neither team seemed capable of utilising it for long enough in the first half hour.
Killie stepped up a gear after that.
Dan Armstrong whipped across a terrific ball and Marley Watkins, with an outstretched leg, stabbed a low attempt just wide from eight yards.
County mustered a couple of driving runs from Chilvers and Reid, without reward.
It then fell to the unlikely figure of central defender Stuart Findlay, off injured by the break, to inject some craft and flair.
His weaving run past several challenges was more akin to a wing wonder, but the low attempt was pushed away by Laidlaw.
Moments later, inside 39 minutes, the breakthrough came.
A Killie throw-in from the right was knocked out of the penalty area, but Corrie Ndaba dragged the ball past one opponent before smashing a fine left foot strike low into the bottom right corner.
Turning with the wind and rain behind them in the second half, County took the game to Killie before 60 seconds changed the match.
A lovely flash of skill from Chilvers led to Liam Donnelly’s red card almost on the hour as he spun away from his marker and was blatantly tugged back.
Donnelly, booked in the first half, walked – and County capitalised within 60 seconds.
Chilvers clipped in the free-kick after Donnelly’s red, and Kacper Lopata nodded the ball back across goal.
Akil Wright had one shot blocked, before White reacted and hooked home a finish from six or seven yards.
Home manager Cowie showed his intentions by taking off defender Ryan Leak for striker Alex Samuel.
Killie retained attacking ambitions despite the disadvantage but it wasn’t long before captain Kyle Vassell was replaced by David Watson in an effort to address the imbalance.
County piled on the pressure and a dipping Chilvers corner flew viciously into the six-yard box and found the net off Killie’s Joe Wright.
Wright’s nightmare afternoon was almost compounded late on as he scythed through Akil Wright and took a red card, only for it to be reversed on the advice of VAR official Andrew Dallas.
Ross County (3-4-1-2): Laidlaw 7; Leak 6 (Samuel 65, 6), Lopata 7, Wright 7; Brown 6, Denholm 6 (Allardice 77, 4), Randall 7, Reid 6 (Efete 77, 4); Chilvers 8 (Nisbet 87, 5); White 7, Hale 6 (Brophy 77, 4). Subs: Hamilton, Lamie, Loturi, Grieves.
Kilmarnock (4-4-2): McCrorie 6; Mayo 6, Deas 7, Findlay 6 (Wright 46, 6), Ndaba 7; Armstrong 7 (Burroughs 79, 4), Lyons 7, Donnelly 6, Kennedy 6 (Anderson 87, 4); Watkins 7, Vassell 6 (Watson 69, 5). Subs: O’Hara, McKenzie, Mackay-Steven, Murray, Wales.
Referee: Matthew MacDermid 6
Man of the match: Noah Chilvers (Ross County)
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