| Date | Wednesday, 04 December 2019 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish Premiership |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 2:1 Hibernian |
| Venue | Global Energy Stadium at Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 4,196 |
| Referee | David Munro |
| Comments | Match Report Report by Colin Moffat for the BBC. Ross County 2 Hibernian 1 Ross Stewart scored two second-half headers as Ross County came from behind to beat Hibernian and earn a first Scottish Premiership win in 10 games. The big forward profited from a terrible misjudgement from goalkeeper Chris Maxwell to level and his second came when Hibs captain Paul Hanlon failed to clear a cross. Christian Doidge had nodded the visitors in front with his seventh goal in five games, but Jack Ross' side faded after the break and surrendered a lead for the eighth time this season. This latest slip, the result of familiar frailties in defence, ends a nine-match unbeaten sequence in the Premiership and means Ross has followed two opening wins with one point from six. County were fortunate not to be further behind at the halfway stage, with Florian Kamberi fluffing a close-range chance, Jason Naismith hammering a shot against the crossbar and a Doidge header slamming into the turf and bouncing over. Doidge made up for that miss when he stooped to meet a Scott Allan free-kick and the ball squirmed through the grasp of keeper Nathan Baxter. Prior to the breakthrough on 34 minutes, the hosts had been reluctant to commit too many men forward, although a ricochet off a Hibs defender played in Brian Graham but the striker could not lift his shot over Maxwell, who was able to bat the ball away at the edge of his area. Maxwell did well on that occasion but his blunder led to the equaliser. Coming to collect a deep cross from Josh Mullin, he only managed to get a slight touch, allowing Stewart to knock the ball into an empty net. The goal came out of the blue but the Highlanders had been displaying more aggression to knock the visitors out of their stride and stifle the influence of playmaker Allan. Stewart's second came after more poor defending, with Hanlon knocking a deflected cross back into traffic rather than out of play, with the forward planting a header beyond the dive of Maxwell from 10 yards. Hibs had fallen out of the game but rallied again as Doidge knocked a shot wide from inside the six-yard box from a clever Martin Boyle header and a thunderous shot from substitute Stevie Mallan almost knocked Baxter off his feet as he pushed it away. But they were also leaving big gaps at the back, with County threatening to add to their lead on the break before referee David Munro sounded the final whistle. Stewart got himself into good positions throughout the 90 minutes and really made the difference in the second half. The equaliser breathed new life into the home side, who prior to that had looked short on attacking ideas. The 23-year-old was rewarded on 75 minutes with a second as he found the bottom corner with a well-placed effort, bringing his goal tally to 11 goals for this campaign. Ross County co-manager Steven Ferguson: "The players started believing again that they can play at this level, with the second-half performance especially. "We got people around the ball and we were making contact, which is a thing we hadn't been doing. We feel we got back to our roots, so to speak." Hibernian head coach Jack Ross: "It's hugely frustrating. We've been in a winning position twice in the past four days, so there are fine margins at the moment that we need to improve upon. We need to be more resilient from that position. "The intensity we showed for the final 15 minutes was missing for the first part of the second half and that's where we need to get better." |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Steven Ferguson Stuart Kettlewell |
| Starting 11 | 21: Nathan Baxter, 3: Sean Kelly 1, 4: Liam Fontaine, 5: Callum Morris, 7: Michael Gardyne, 14: Joshua Mullin, 16: Lewis Spence 1, 18: Richard Foster, 19: Brian Graham, 24: Harrison Paton 1, 27: Ross Stewart 2 |
| Bench | 1: Ross Laidlaw, 2: Marcus Fraser, 8: Lee Erwin, 9: Billy Mckay, 15: Keith Watson, 17: Ewan Henderson, 20: Blair Spittal |
| Hibernian | |
| Manager | Jack Ross |
| Starting 11 | Chris Maxwell, Paul Hanlon, Vykintas Silvka 1, Christian Doidge 1, Martin Boyle, Lewis Stevenson, Melker Hallberg, Jason Naismith, Florian Kamberi, Scott Allan, Ryan Porteous 1 |
| Bench | Ofir Marciano, Steven Whittaker, Daryl Horgan, Stephen Mallan, Tom James, Adam Jackson, Oli Shaw |