Date	Saturday, 08 October 2022
Competition	Scottish Premiership
Fixture/Score	Livingston 0:1 Ross County
Venue	Tony Macaroni Stadium,
Attendance	3,696
Referee	Graham Grainger
Comments	Match Report Report by George O'Neill for the BBC. Livingston 0 Ross County 1 Ross County secured their first Scottish Premiership win in seven games and moved up to 10th by winning at wasteful Livingston. Owura Edwards scored the only goal of the game with 18 minutes left, and the visitors held on to secure a vital win. David Martindale's side wasted chance after chance in front of goal, and will look back with huge regret on a game they should have won. His side remain eighth, four clear of County having played a game fewer. There was drama before kick-off as one of the goals had to be removed due to a sagging crossbar. Livingston manager Davie Martindale was among those out attempting to remedy the issue - wielding a measuring stick - but a portable goal was wheeled into place and the game began. The hosts were untroubled by the mismatched goals, and pinned County back deep in their own half. The first clear-cut chance fell to Kurtis Guthrie, but he could only shoot wide from close range after Cristian Montano and Dylan Bahamboula combined. The quick feet and slick interplay of Livingston's attacking players continued to create chances, but Ross Laidlaw was relatively untroubled in the away goal. All 11 of their shots in the first half were off target. At the other end, Owura had County's only shot of the opening 45 minutes - indeed, their only touch in the opposition box - but he sliced his shot well wide. The game continued in the same vein after the interval, with County sitting deep and Livingston controlling things without really troubling Laidlaw. Jason Holt, Nouble and Scott Pittman all saw chances come and go. Ayo Obileye was then presented with the best opening of the game by far, but could only shoot straight at Laidlaw with the goal at his mercy. Martindale looked bemused and, just five minutes later, County made the hosts pay for their profligacy. Jordy Hiwula latched onto a poor clearance and raced through one-on-one with Sheldon George. His shot thundered back off the crossbar, but Owura was on hand to head home the rebound. The visitors then saw out their first away league win of the season - and first in Livingston since 2012 - with relative ease, as Livingston continued to fire shots high and wide. Martindale helped with the attempted repairs, but he could have requested the goals be made twice the size and his side might still have failed to find the back of the net. They had 22 shots - 11 inside the box - but only three hit the target. When you have 38 touches inside the opposition box, you simply have to translate that into goals. Malky Mackay spoke ahead of kick-off about his side finding "10% extra at both ends", and they were able to do so. Yes, Livingston should have done more, but Alex Iacovitti and Jack Baldwin stood firm in the centre of defence, and Owura tucked away the only real chance they were able to carve out. That sort of efficiency turned a probable defeat into an invaluable three points. Ross County manager Malky Mackay: "We knew it was going to be a war of attrition, a tough game. "There's a lot of games in the Premiership that are on a knife edge and you have to win those first and second balls. The win today is a good one for the club." Livingston manager David Martindale: "I know why we didn't take three points from the game - slack defending and we don't take our chances. "The frustrating thing is that we're talking about getting beat 1-0 in a game we dominated. Credit to County, they defended well and took their chance when it came to them. It doesn't matter what you think you deserve. You've got to go and take it."
Ross County
Manager	Malcolm (Malky) Mackay
Starting 11	1: Ross Laidlaw, 3: Ben Purrington, 4: David Cancola, 5: Jack Baldwin, 6: Alexander Iacovitti 1, 7: Owura Edwards 1, 8: Ross Callachan, 15: Keith Watson 1, 17: Kazeem Olaigbe, 22: Jordon Tillson, 26: Jordan White
Bench	31: Jake Eastwood, 9: Dominic Samuel 1, 10: Yan Dhanda, 11: Joshua Sims, 12: Callum Johnson, 14: Victor Loturi, 18: William Akio, 19: Jordy Hiwula-Mayifuila, 30: Dylan Smith
Livingston
Manager	David Martindale
Starting 11	Shamal George, Nicky Devlin, Ayo Obileye, Cristian Montaño, Sean Kelly, Scott Pittman, Jason Holt, Andrew Shinnie, Dylan Bahamboula, Joel Nouble, Kurtis Guthrie
Bench	Jackson Longridge, Bruce Anderson, Jamie Brandon, Morgan Boyes, Stephen Kelly, Philip Cancar, James Penrice, Ivan Konovalov, Jack Hamilton