Date	Saturday, 23 January 2016
Competition	Scottish Premiership
Fixture/Score	Motherwell 1:2 Ross County
Venue	Fir Park
Attendance	3,279
Referee	Willie Collum
Comments	Match Report Report by Alasdair Lamont for the BBC. Motherwell 1 Ross County 2 Ross County survived a late onslaught from Motherwell for their first league win of 2016, moving them up to fourth in the Premiership. Goals in either half from Jackson Irvine and Brian Graham earned them all three points. Motherwell's late response began with Stephen Pearson's fierce strike. But Scott Fox saved from James McFadden and brilliantly kept out a Keith Lasley drive to frustrate Motherwell. It was a pulsating finish to a game that only sparked into life when Irvine fired in the opening goal. The Australian was only drafted into the starting line-up minutes before the match because of an injury in the warm-up to Martin Woods. And he made a great case for his inclusion when he deftly controlled a deep corner before lashing the ball past Connor Ripley, despite the best efforts of Kieran Kennedy on the line. Fox saved well from a Louis Moult header and Chris Cadden as Motherwell tried to mount a swift response, but County regained the ascendancy at the start of the second half. Playing principally on the counter-attack, they went close on a number of occasions, with Michael Gardyne having a header cleared off the line and passing up another great chance with a low drive that was blocked. They got the second goal their play deserved when Graham slotted past Ripley as the Motherwell defence failed to deal with a Stewart Murdoch cross. That looked like game over until Pearson's late strike - the midfielder blasting past Fox from 12 yards. But the keeper was sharply off his line to prevent McFadden's lob beating him and he sprung to his right to deny Lasley a spectacular equaliser. The result leaves Motherwell just a point above the relegation play-off spot and County in good spirits ahead of next weekend's League Cup semi-final against Celtic. Ross County manager Jim McIntyre was thrilled with the 2-1 victory away at Motherwell that propelled his side up to fourth in the Premiership. Goals from Jackson Irvine and Brian Graham sealed the win, with Stephen Pearson replying for the Steelmen. However, McIntyre has injury concerns ahead of their upcoming League Cup semi-final with Celtic. "Both sides created a number of chances, I thought ours were clearer cut," he said. "I am absolutely delighted We have had a couple of opportunities in the last six weeks to move up a place and we never managed to take it." "Motherwell put us under a lot of pressure, got to give them credit. We had to hang on in there at the end." McIntyre says his side go into next Sunday's semi-final high in confidence, but Jackson Irvine broke his nose near the end of the match. Top scorer Liam Boyce remains on the sidelines with McIntyre admitting it will be a surprise if the Northern Ireland international is ready in time for the Celtic game. In addition, Martin Woods had to pull out before kick-off with an injury during the warm-up. "We wanted to go into the match off the back of a victory and obviously some of the other teams will play [in the league] also so it was important we got three points today and bounced back from the Aberdeen defeat," he said. "I would say it [Boyce playing] would be unlikely. He doesn't get his cast off until Wednesday. He will certainly be in the squad but we will have to see how he trains on Thursday and Friday. "It's such an awkward injury, a spiral fracture. If it takes a bad bang he could be back to square one again so we will need to weigh up how he is feeling and what the latest x-ray is like on Wednesday as well." Despite the defeat, Motherwell manager Mark McGhee was generally satisfied with the effort shown by his players. "Disappointed with the result, not too disappointed with the performance," he said. "We have got plenty here to build on. "We did more than enough to get at least something out of the game. Giving them a goal at the start from a corner kick was so disappointing because it's something we work very hard on. "We were in their last third twice as many times as they were in ours, so we had plenty of opportunities to create a goal. So that was a little bit disappointing. "But in the dressing room at the end there's not too many people I can point the finger at. They put a huge effort into the game, we played some good stuff at times, we made opportunities and didn't take enough of them."
Ross County
Manager	Jim McIntyre
Starting 11	1: Scott Fox, 2: Marcus Fraser, 5: Scott Boyd, 7: Michael Gardyne, 8: Ian McShane, 9: Brian Graham 1, 12: Richard Foster, 15: Andrew Davies, 17: Jonathan Franks, 23: Alex Schalk, 36: Jackson Irvine 1
Bench	21: Gary Woods, 3: Jamie Reckord, 6: Christopher Robertson, 11: Craig Curran 1, 18: Stewart Murdoch, 24: Raffaele De Vita, 53: Greg Morrison
Motherwell
Manager	Mark McGhee
Starting 11	Connor Ripley, Steven Hammell, Stephen McManus, Kieran Kennedy, Ben Hall, Stephen Pearson 1, Marvin Johnson, Keith Lasley, Chris Cadden, Louis Moult, Scott McDonald
Bench	Louis Laing, Lionel Ainsworth, Wes Fletcher, Craig Samson, Joe Chalmers, David Clarkson, James McFadden