| Date | Saturday, 04 August 2018 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish Championship |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 1:0 Alloa Athletic |
| Venue | Global Energy Stadium at Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 3,065 |
| Referee | Mike Roncone |
| Comments | Match Report Report by Eilidh Davies for the BBC. Alloa Athletic 0 Ross County 1 Marcus Fraser's late goal gave Ross County an opening-day Championship victory against promoted Alloa. County, relegated last season and one of the favourites for the title, got in front when substitute Davis Keillor-Dunn crossed for Fraser to convert. Declan McManus headed straight at goalkeeper Neil Parry as the hosts threatened in the first half. Greig Spence had Alloa's best chance but fired wide and the Wasps eventually succumbed to mounting County pressure. The hosts claimed unsuccessfully for a penalty after Josh Mullin was held in the box. Jamie Lindsay's towering header was well blocked but the Staggies eventually made the breakthrough in the closing stages. Ross County co-manager Stuart Kettlewell: "The nature of the game is such that Alloa sit in and waste a bit of time - that's a factor we've got to deal with, especially at home. "The first half we could have dealt with it better. Second half, Alloa dropped off even further. We felt the players were the most patient people in the stadium and to their credit they go and get a 1-0 victory, which was thoroughly merited." Alloa Athletic manager Jim Goodwin: "We certainly didn't do enough to win the game. Apart form Greig's chance in the first half we didn't really have any clear-cut chances after that. I thought we defended really well at times. I thought the shape was good. "The goal against us was just a lapse of concentration at the end. We were hanging on. Ross County were certainly the better team in the second half. They were pinning us back as we knew they would and they are favourites to win the league." |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Steven Ferguson Stuart Kettlewell |
| Starting 11 | 1: Scott Fox, 2: Marcus Fraser 1, 3: Sean Kelly, 5: Callum Morris, 6: Ross Draper, 8: Jamie Lindsay 1, 9: Billy Mckay, 10: Declan Mcmanus, 11: Iain Vigurs, 14: Joshua Mullin, 15: Keith Watson |
| Bench | 21: Ross Munro, 12: Stelios Demetriou, 17: Davis Keillor-Dunn, 18: Ryan Dow, 19: Brian Graham, 22: Tony Dingwall, 24: Harrison Paton |
| Alloa Athletic | |
| Manager | Jim Goodwin |
| Starting 11 | Neil Parry, Scott Taggart, Liam Dick, Andrew Graham, Steven Hetherington 1, Jon Robertson, Greig Spence, Alan Trouten, Adam Brown, Jake Hastie, Zack Karadachki |
| Bench | Kevin Cawley, Reis Peggie, Jim Goodwin, Chris Henry |