Date	Saturday, 29 August 2020
Competition	Scottish Premiership
Fixture/Score	Livingston 1:0 Ross County
Venue	Tony Macaroni Stadium,
Attendance
Referee	John Beaton
Comments	Match Report Report by Keir Murray for the BBC. Played Behind Closed Doors Jon Guthrie's second-half header earned Livingston victory and lifted them off the foot of the Scottish Premiership - but the goal infuriated Ross County manager Stuart Kettlewell. Billy Mckay twice narrowly missed with headers for County, but their ambitions ended with Carl Tremarco's red card. Lars Lokotsch's header hit County's bar in a poor first half before Guthrie rose above Ross Stewart to score. "Stewart is being fouled," an irate Kettlewell told BBC Scotland. "The same two players came together in the first half and it was blown up for a foul. "There are certain officials you can speak to. I'm not going to accept being swept aside like a second-class citizen." Beaton had shown a second yellow card to left-back Tremarco 13 minutes before the decisive goal that gave Livingston their first win of the season. He then brandished a red card to Kettlewell for his complaints after the final whistle. The first half was largely forgettable, certainly for midfielder Scott Pittman who contrived to knock Nicky Devlin's cross wide from six yards. Play was so frequently interrupted by players crashing to the artificial turf, that you can only imagine the trail of rubber granules strewn from the pitch to the changing rooms. Tremarco and his team-mate Ross Draper went into Beaton's book for fouls, which were only ever a few misplaced passes away. And then we got some football. Alan Forrest's cross for Livingston striker Lokotsch was perfect, the German's header nearly so as it came crashing off the bar. As the interval beckoned, Stewart sent Tremarco's cross from the left on to the head of Billy Mckay, only for his effort to go wide. The Northern Irishman then headed Iain Vigurs' corner wide. The tone of the game changed with the red card shown to Tremarco for catching Devlin's heels as he moved towards the County box wide on the right. County were pressed back and their goal was eventually breached when Guthrie showed measured aggression to get to Serrano's cross. Kettlewell made five substitutions in two batches to try to effect a change in the play. But Livingston did not look like relinquishing their lead. There are a couple of themes emerging this season. First, there have been several games badly lacking in attractive play, the dearth of quality perhaps highlighted by the lack of atmosphere at the grounds. The second point is that so many teams are closely matched. Results are unpredictable. Prior to kick-off, County were third, nine places ahead of Livingston at the bottom of the pile. Yet they lost. One goal, 31 fouls, a red card, five second-half substitutions by one manager. This game may come to typify a low-scoring, nervous, scrappy, interrupted season - let's hope not. Livingston manager Gary Holt: "I think we thoroughly deserved it. The sending off makes it difficult for County. "We knew this first month was going to be tough - the lack of preparation and game time." Ross County manager Stuart Kettlewell: "I thought it was a really poor game of football. We should have been more creative when we entered Livingston's half. "It's a frustrating one, with the nature of the goal and how it came about. We never tested them. We had a game plan to get through 45 minutes and match their energy and aggression. "The game changes when you go down to 10 men. I am not going to complain about the sending off - it's the goal."
Ross County
Manager	Stuart (Ketts) Kettlewell
Starting 11	1: Ross Laidlaw, 2: Connor Randall, 3: Carl Tremarco 2 1, 6: Ross Draper 1, 7: Michael Gardyne 1, 9: Billy Mckay, 11: Iain Vigurs, 15: Keith Watson, 16: Alexander Iacovitti, 25: Coll Donaldson 1, 27: Ross Stewart
Bench	21: Ross Doohan, 5: Callum Morris, 8: Oliver Shaw, 14: Joshua Mullin, 17: Regan Charles-Cook, 18: Stephen Kelly, 22: Jordon Tillson, 43: Josh Reid, 24: Harrison Paton
Livingston
Manager	Gary Holt
Starting 11	Robby McCrorie, Nicky Devlin, Efe Ambrose, Jon Guthrie 1, Julien Serrano 1, Alan Forrest, Marvin Bartley, Scott Pittman, Craig Sibbald, Lars Lokotsch, Scott Robinson
Bench	Max Stryjek, Aaron Taylor-Sinclair, Jason Holt, Jack Hamilton, Robbie Crawford, Salim Kouider-Aissa, Scott Tiffoney, Jack McMillan, Matej Poplatnik