| Date | Friday, 09 January 2026 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish Championship |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 2:0 Partick Thistle |
| Venue | Global Energy Stadium at Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 2,720 |
| Referee | Colin Steven |
| Comments | Match Report Report by Andrew Henderson for the Ross-shire Journal Ross County 2 Partick Thistle 0 Stuart Kettlewell’s second spell as Ross County manager got off to a flying start as he watched his side record a 2-0 win over Partick Thistle in Dingwall. An early double from Jay Henderson will hopefully have set the tone for what is to come for Kettlewell, whose side defended resiliently to hold on to their advantage. Partick did push to get back in the game, hitting the woodwork and forcing multiple saves out of Trevor Carson, but they could not deny the Staggies a first Championship victory since October 25. Just 20 seconds after kick off, County took the lead. Kieran Phillips did well to battle for high balls from kick off, forcing Partick skipper Lee Ashcroft to head across the edge of his own box where Jay Henderson raced on to it and fired into the net with his left foot. County were showing a good intensity when they had the ball, and in the 11th minute they made it 2-0. Kieran Phillips was slipped through on goal by Henderson, the forward’s pace taking him away from Ashcroft, only for his shot to be blocked by visiting goalkeeper Josh Clarke. However, Henderson had kept up with play, and was on hand to convert into an open goal from the edge of the box again to double the Staggies’ advantage. Partick fired a warning shot when Tsoanelo Letsosa was played in over the top of County’s defence, with Trevor Carson making himself big to deny the resultant shot, before former County man Alex Samuel followed up the effort by hitting the bar, That was the visitors’ best chance to cut the deficit before the break, but Ashcroft did head over the bar at a corner kick in the last action of the first 45 minutes. Phillips forced a good save out of Clarke shortly after the restart with a curling effort from range. Just before the hour mark Oisin Smyth took aim at the edge of county’s box, curling his effort just wide of the mark but forcing Trevor Carson to make a full-stretch dive. The 63rd minute brought more substantial action for Carson, who needed to react quickly to stop Samuel finding the net a few minutes later. Partick kept the pressure on in the closing stages, but could not find a breakthrough to make it a really nervy finish for the home side. County held on for all three points, ending a run of seven league matches without a win to cut the deficit to Queen’s Park at the bottom of the Championship to two points ahead of the rest of the division’s matches tomorrow afternoon. |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Stuart (Ketts) Kettlewell |
| Starting 11 | 30: Trevor Carson, 3: Len O'Sullivan, 6: Connor Randall, 7: Jay Henderson 2, 11: Kieran Phillips 1, 15: Dylan Smith, 16: Alexander Iacovitti, 23: Ross Docherty, 26: Jordan White, 27: Ryan Duncan, 38: Jamie Lindsay |
| Bench | 21: Bradley Foster, 8: Dean Cornelius, 12: Scott Fraser, 14: Nicholas (Nicky) Clark, 17: Gary MacKay-Steven, 25: Jack Wells-Morrison, 28: Jamie Williamson, 29: Miller Thomson, 44: James Scott |
| Partick Thistle | |
| Manager | Mark Wilson |
| Starting 11 | Joshua Clarke, Lee Ashcroft, Daniel O'Reilly, Paddy Reading, Ben McPherson, Tsoanelo Letsosa, Ben Stanway, Oisin Smyth, Logan Chalmers, Tony Watt, Alex Samuel |
| Bench | Aidan Fitzpatrick, Scott Martin, Kyle Turner, Luke McBeth, Steven Lawless, Cammy Logan, Matthew Falconer, Liam Dolan, Lewis Budinauckas |