Date	Saturday, 28 January 2023
Competition	Scottish Premiership
Fixture/Score	Ross County 3:0 Kilmarnock
Venue	Global Energy Stadium at Victoria Park
Attendance	3,794
Referee	Chris Graham
Comments	Match Report Report by Keir Murray for the BBC. Ross County 3 Kilmarnock 0 Kilmarnock remain the only team in the Scottish Premiership without an away win this season as Ross County leapfrogged them out of bottom spot. Ross County were the more clinical and Eamonn Brophy converted a Nohan Kenneh cross in the first half. Ross Callachan set up Jordan White for a tap-in and Zach Hemming fumbled Yan Dhanda's shot as County sealed the win. Kilmarnock had chances but now sit bottom of the top flight by five goals. Motherwell and Dundee United also join County and Kilmarnock on 20 points, but have played fewer games. Brophy, on loan from St Mirren, had signalled his appetite for the game, by spinning away from Ash Taylor and firing wide. In 13 minutes, the striker made sure. Kilmarnock lost possession in midfield and Kenneh broke down the right and sent over a low cross for Brophy to roll the ball in confidently at the back post. Eventually Kilmarnock started to play. Jordan Jones, buoyed by his Scottish Cup winner against Dumbarton last week, created space out in the right wing and fired in a cross that came to Scott Robinson so quickly all he could do was divert it goalwards with his stomach. Kyle Vassell tried in vain to get a touch on it but the ball flashed past the far post. Ross Laidlaw must have been relieved to have seen a Jones drive fizz past his left-hand post. Similarly, on another day Taylor might have levelled with a header from a Jones in-swinging free-kick but he put it over the crossbar. It was one-way traffic at this point and the travelling fans were incredulous when Robinson failed to equalise. Liam Polworth volleyed across the penalty box, Taylor diverted it on target, but when a stabbed clearance landed at Robinson five yards out he somehow knocked it over. Kilmarnock were caught napping at the start of the second half. A White backheel set up Brophy with a sight of goal but he mis-hit his shot, and in 48 minutes no-one in yellow picked up the overlapping Ross Callachan who received Brophy's pass and crossed to the back post for White to slide in to score. Kilmarnock, stung by this, almost pulled one back when their striker Vassell brought out a good save from Laidlaw. Worse was to come. Dhanda picked up the ball about 30 yards out, had a look around him, nudged forward and sent a dipping shot at goal. Hemming somehow allowed it to squeeze through his arms and the home fans rejoiced while the Kilmarnock goalie fell to his knees clutching his head in horror. If Malky Mackay was targeting one match in which he would hope his players could find the net, it would have been the visit of Kilmarnock, given their poor form away from Rugby Park. And so it turned out. It was a strange game. Kilmarnock had their opportunities - Taylor's header, Robinson hitting over with the net as his mercy, Vassell's second-half drive, Polworth's low shot and Doidge's header - but a mixture of inaccurate finishing and Laidlaw's goalkeeping meant they left the Global Energy Stadium without as much as a goal to show for their considerable efforts. Brophy looked delighted to be playing, facing his old team after his loan move from St Mirren. He was alert to get on to Kenneh's cross for the opener and it was his quick thinking that set Callachan off and running to cross for the big centre-forward to score County's second. Mackay will hope Brophy's experience can guide his team away from the trouble at the bottom of the table. The confidence from this win should help too. Ross County manager Malky Mackay: "It was a really good performance today. We did well. It was a tight game, as I knew it was going to be, but at the correct moments we took our chances. "It gives us a little bit of confidence. It pulls us all nicely together, back in with Kilmarnock, Motherwell and Dundee United. We have real belief. If they give me that until the rest of the season we will be there or thereabouts in terms of staying in this division." Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes: "It was a fight. We lost the first goal in a counter attack. We played our own part in that goal. The response was good. We had umpteen corners and twice as many shots. "In the second half, we had a chance to clear the ball. We gambled it would be a cut-back and they rolled it across the face of goal for 2-0. There were loads of opportunities for us. For long spells we played well but gave away cheap goals and have failed to score ourselves."
Ross County
Manager	Malcolm (Malky) Mackay
Starting 11	1: Ross Laidlaw, 2: Connor Randall, 5: Jack Baldwin, 6: Alexander Iacovitti, 8: Ross Callachan 1, 10: Yan Dhanda 1, 15: Keith Watson, 16: George Harmon, 26: Jordan White 1, 27: Eamonn Brophy 1, 42: Nohan Kenneh
Bench	21: Ross Munro, 4: David Cancola, 11: Joshua Sims, 14: Victor Loturi, 19: Jordy Hiwula-Mayifuila, 22: Jordon Tillson, 25: Alexander Samuel, 30: Dylan Smith, 49: Josh Stone
Kilmarnock
Manager	Derek McInnes
Starting 11	Zach Hemming, Lewis Mayo, Ash Taylor, Calum Waters, Joe Wright, Alan Power, Rory McKenzie, Jordan Jones, Liam Polworth, Scott Robinson, Kyle Vassell 1
Bench	Blair Alston, Jack Sanders, Brad Lyons, Sam Walker, Kerr McInroy, Liam Donnelly, Ryan Alebiousu, Christian Doidge, Kyle Lafferty