Date	Saturday, 26 April 2014
Competition	Scottish Premiership
Fixture/Score	Ross County 2:1 Kilmarnock
Venue	Global Energy Stadium at Victoria Park
Attendance	3,401
Referee	Kevin Clancy
Comments	Match Report Report by Andrew Thomson for the BBC. Premiership Bottom Six Ross County 2 Kilmarnock 1 Ross County beat Kilmarnock to leapfrog the visitors, who replace them in second-bottom spot in the Premiership. County had penalty claims denied when striker Jordan Slew appeared to be tugged by Jeroen Tesselaar. But neither side had seriously threatened until Filip Kiss produced a classy finish by steering a shot home four minutes before the break. Richard Brittain's 77th-minute penalty put County further ahead before Kris Boyd's late, headed reply. Kilmarnock have now only won one of their last six outings and have three games left to avoid a play-off against a Championship side to avoid relegation. The visitors looked lively early on with Michael Gardyne going on a surging run towards the County box but his shot was disappointing, trickling wide of the left post. County began to dominate and there was an excellent chance for Jordan Slew, who got in behind the Kilmarnock defence only to lob harmlessly past the far post. Moments later, Slew appeared to be hauled to the ground right on the edge of the box by Jeroen Tesselaar but no free-kick or penalty was given. A Graham Carey cross from a free-kick curled dangerously in to the six-yard box. Goalkeeper Craig Samson caught it but set the nerves of the Killie fans on edge when he seemed to be momentarily juggling the ball. When County did make the breakthrough it was something of a classic. Kiss worked a nice one-two move with Melvin de Leeuw on the edge of the box then caressed the ball into the corner of the net. Ross Barbour sent William Gross through on goal after the break but the Killie substitute's first touch let him down. County, however, were looking dangerous on the counter attack and one of those surges led to Brittain being fouled in the box by Lee Ashcroft. The team captain made no mistake when he fired the ball powerfully past Samson. County's Yoann Arquin, who missed last week's loss to Hearts as manager Derek Adams refused to comment on reports the striker went missing for several days, made an appearance from the bench. In the dying moments, Boyd got one back for Killie by guiding Rory McKenzie's cross past Mark Brown. It was only then that Killie seemed to find a sense of urgency and managed to sustain some pressure on the Staggies goal during four minutes of injury time. But in the end it was County who almost got a third through Arquin, whose shot was pushed round the post by the fingertips of Samson with Barbour having a headed effort cleared off the line by Ben Gordon. Derek Adams praised his Ross County team after their 2-1 win over Kilmarnock lifted them out of the Premiership relegation play-off zone. The Staggies are now in ninth place, a point clear of Killie, who occupy the play-off spot. "We have shown over the season that we can play in big games and give big performances," Adams told BBC Scotland. "Today was a big game and it was a big performance from my players. I thought we were superior to our opponents." With Hearts already relegated, St Mirren, Hibs, County, Partick Thistle and Killie are in a struggle to avoid being the team to play a two-legged tie against the club to emerge from the Championship play-offs. Yet with only two points separating the five clubs, and the split ensuring the teams play against one another and not those in the top six, each team has their fate in their own hands. "We want to win our next three games," added Adams after goals by Filip Kiss and Richard Brittain helped his team to a precious home win. "We're away to St Mirren, home to Hibernian and away to Partick Thistle. "It was an outstanding performance today, very good from start to finish. I thought we played well and Kiss's goal was excellent. "We were unfortunate not to have scored a few more today. "I thought we were strong, passed the ball well, counter-attacked well and controlled large parts of the game. "I didn't see Kilmarnock going to score, unless [Kris] Boyd got a wee opportunity." Indeed, that is what transpired as the Kilmarnock striker grabbed a goal two minutes from the end to set up a tense finish.
Ross County
Manager	Derek Adams
Starting 11	1: Mark Brown, 2: Erik Cikos, 3: Benjamin Gordon 1, 5: Scott Boyd, 7: Filip Kiss 1 1, 8: Richard Brittain 1 (1 pen) 1, 11: Melvin De Leeuw, 12: Michael Tidser, 23: Graham Carey, 25: Jordan Slew, 28: Yann Songo'o
Bench	20: Michael Fraser, 4: Stuart Kettlewell, 10: Rocco Quinn, 16: Alex Cooper, 21: Brian McLean, 22: Steven Saunders, 27: Yoann Arquin
Kilmarnock
Manager	Allan Johnston
Starting 11	Craig Samson, Jeroen Tesselaar, Jackson Irvine, Ross Barbour, Vitalijs Maksimenko 1, Lee Ashcroft, Manuel Pascali, Michael Gardyne, Rory McKenzie, Alexei Eremenko, Kris Boyd 1
Bench	Antonio Reguero , James Fowler, Sammy Clingan, Chris Johnston, William Gros, Craig Slater, Robbie Muirhead