| Date | Saturday, 07 January 2023 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish Premiership |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 0:2 Livingston |
| Venue | Global Energy Stadium at Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 3,083 |
| Referee | William Collum |
| Comments | Match Report Report by Andrew Petrie for the BBC. Ross County 0 Livingston 2 Bruce Anderson's second-half double lifted Livingston to fifth in the Scottish Premiership as they stung Ross County twice on the counter. The visitors were holding out against a County barrage when they broke upfield and scored the 66th-minute opener, Anderson stretching to connect with a Steven Bradley cross. Three minutes later Anderson had his second, picking the ball up on the halfway line and charging towards the County box before firing low into the net. The win is Livingston's first since 8 November and moves them above St Mirren, but County remain rooted to the bottom, three points from safety having played two games more. Both sides were looking to address rotten runs of form, with neither having won for over eight weeks. The first-half showed why. Although there was plenty of effort, there was very little quality on show in either box. The only glimmer of hope came when Andrew Shinnie buried Anderson's through ball, but the offside flag went up straight away. The VAR check revealed it was the right decision - by a matter of inches. In the second-half, County began to pepper the Livingston goal and both Ross Callachan and David Cancola should have scored. The former received the ball unmarked in the box, swivelling and driving a shot straight at the legs of Shamal George, before Cancola showed excellent composure in the box before passing wide from six yards out. George was then alert to tip a Keith Watson effort over, and it looked more than likely that County would eventually break the deadlock. But it was Livingston who nudged themselves ahead when Nicky Devlin and Bradley surged up the right, with the former Hibs winger cutting back to Anderson, who netted with composure. Three minutes later, they had a second. Picking up the ball on the halfway line, Anderson had one thing in his mind, charging straight at Connor Randall before shifting the ball onto his right and lacing it low into the bottom corner. With that, County were practically out of the game and were denied a tense finale when Jordan White's header was ruled out because Callachan was offside in the build-up. As they have done on numerous occasions this season - much like last term - County will leave that game wondering how they didn't win it. They were piling the pressure on Livingston but they could not find a clinical touch in the box. Callachan and Cancola, in particular, were clearly feeling merciful. Anderson showed them what they were missing. He did well for the first, stretching as the cross was played behind him. The second was even better. There was only one thing in his mind when he picked the ball up - get to the box. He did that, and then some. This is worrying for County. In periods of such dominance, they need to put teams to the sword. Ross County manager Malky Mackay: "I thought we were in good control in the first half, had a couple of half chances. Second half, we have a couple of unbelievable chances. You have to score these goals. "There's very little between a lot of teams in this division, and it's fine lines between who slips up and who has a bit of quality and takes their chances. Today they did, and we didn't." Livingston manager David Martindale: "I don't think there was a lot between the teams and we were fortunate we stuck the ball away twice. If I was to summarise the game, we took our chances and County didn't. "Bruce Anderson was the difference for us. They had chances just as good as ours today, but Brucie stuck them away. He took his goals fantastically well." |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Malcolm (Malky) Mackay |
| Starting 11 | 1: Ross Laidlaw, 2: Connor Randall, 4: David Cancola, 6: Alexander Iacovitti, 7: Owura Edwards, 8: Ross Callachan, 15: Keith Watson, 16: George Harmon, 17: Kazeem Olaigbe, 22: Jordon Tillson, 26: Jordan White |
| Bench | 21: Ross Munro, 5: Jack Baldwin, 9: Dominic Samuel, 11: Joshua Sims, 12: Callum Johnson, 14: Victor Loturi, 18: William Akio, 19: Jordy Hiwula-Mayifuila, 24: Benjamin Paton |
| Livingston | |
| Manager | David Martindale |
| Starting 11 | Shamal George, Nicky Devlin, Jack Fitzwater, Morgan Boyes, James Penrice, Andrew Shinnie, Sean Kelly 1, Stephane Omeonga, Bruce Anderson 2, Steven Bradley, Stephen Kelly |
| Bench | Jackson Longridge, Ayo Obileye, Dylan Bahamboula, Esmael Gonçalves, Philip Cancar, Ivan Konovalov, Jack Hamilton |