Date	Saturday, 10 November 2012
Competition	Scottish Premier League
Fixture/Score	Kilmarnock 3:0 Ross County
Venue	Rugby Park
Attendance	4,012
Referee	Bobby Madden
Comments	Match Report Report by Charlie Mann for the BBC. Kilmarnock 3 Ross County 0 Paul Heffernan scored twice as Kilmarnock eased to victory over Ross County at Rugby Park. The striker, making his first start of the season after injury, touched home a free-kick on 66 minutes. Gary Harkins then thumped in a fantastic strike from 20 yards to beat County keeper Michael Fraser, who had made a number of fine saves. Heffernan completed the scoring with a first-time finish, steering home an astute pass from Cillian Sheridan. After a week in which Kenny Shiels spat with referee Euan Norris and the SFA was back page news, the Kilmarnock manager will be pleased that it is his players who will grabbing the headlines after this result. The ever-honest Shiels was still unhappy before the game with morning reports about his interaction with referees supervisor, John Fleming. However, his mood will have changed after a game in which his side swept aside the visitors with a devastating three goals in 15 minutes spell after a fairly even first hour. Shiels made five changes from the side that lost to Inverness Caley Thistle with youngsters McKeown, McKenzie and O'Hara, as well as Dayton and Johnson, dropping to the bench in what the manager described as a "non developmental" team designed to get Killie back on a winning run. Paul Heffernan returned to the starting line-up for the first time in eight months alongside Gary Harkins, Jeroen Tesselaar, James Fowler and Borja Perez, with Heffernan and Harkins set to have a huge impact on proceedings. The opening 45 minutes was full of good midfield play but little in the way of chances, although, two minutes before the interval, County's Rocco Quinn should really have done better with an opportunity which saw him take advantage of a slip in the Killie defence only to shoot wide when he should have tested Cammy Bell. Youngster Steven Ross might also have done better with a 26th minute chance and Killie's Michael Nelson had a header cleared off the line. However, the second half was dominated by the home side, and Michael Fraser in the visitors goal did well to save efforts from Cillian Sheridan and Heffernan before the deadlock was broken on 67 minutes. Referee Bobby Madden awarded Killie a free-kick near the touchline and, from Perez's cross, Heffernan eluded his marker to head the ball past Fraser from eight yards for his first goal of the season. Nine minutes later Harkins lit up the game with a terrific goal in which he ran from midfield, looked up and curled a wonderful 25-yard effort high past Fraser into the top right-hand corner of the goal. Sheridan, who had linked superbly with Heffernan all game, then found the striker with a fine pass from midfield and the Killie star controlled the ball with his first touch and despatched it past Fraser from the edge of the box with his second eight minutes from time. Ross County manager Derek Adams said his side had no fear of relegation, despite defeat at Kilmarnock. Goals from Paul Heffernan, twice, and Gary Harkins left County without a point from their long journey. But Adams insisted he was confident of Scottish Premier League survival, despite a three-game unbeaten run coming to an end. "We've got the pool of players to do that, of course," he told BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound. "Come January we'll go again and we'll sign some more players and strengthen where we need to strengthen. "It's a tough league, very competitive, and we're enjoying it." Adams felt that the result was unjust on his players, particularly after Rocco Quinn and Steven Ross missed good first-half chances. "I thought the first half we played very well," he said. "We had probably two of the better opportunities and I thought we caused Kilmarnock a number of problems. "It's all ifs and buts, and players have got to take that opportunity. Kilmarnock were the first team to score and they gained confidence from that." Adams also thought that Killie used home advantage to good effect. "They've got a good squad of players," he added. "It's always a difficult place to come to; it's a beautiful playing surface, which suits them, and today they got the benefits of that."
Ross County
Manager	Derek Adams
Starting 11	1: Michael Fraser, 3: Marc Fitzpatrick, 4: Grant Munro, 5: Scott Boyd, 7: Stuart Kettlewell, 10: Richard Brittain, 11: Iain Vigurs, 12: Rocco Quinn, 22: Mihael Kovacevic 1, 24: Steven Ross, 29: Mark Fotheringham
Bench	25: Mark Brown, 6: Ross Tokely, 9: Colin McMenamin 1, 17: Samuel Morrow, 20: Gary Glen, 21: Alex Cooper, 23: Archie Macphee
Kilmarnock
Manager	Kenny Shiels
Starting 11	Cameron Bell, Jeroen Tesselaar, James Fowler, Ryan O'Leary, Michael Nelson 1, Liam Kelly, Gary Harkins 1, Manuel Pascali, Cillian Sheridan, Paul Heffernan 2, Borja Perez
Bench	Kyle Letheren, Rory McKeown, Mark O'Hara, Mohamadou Sissoko, James Dayton, Lee Johnson, Rory McKenzie