Date	Saturday, 08 September 2018
Competition	Scottish Challenge Cup
Fixture/Score	Ross County 5:0 Raith Rovers
Venue	Global Energy Stadium at Victoria Park
Attendance	1,232
Referee	John Beaton
Comments	Match Report Report from Raith Rovers Website Ross County 5 Raith Rovers 0 After a turbulent week for the club in the wake of Barry Smith’s resignation, Rovers visited Dingwall with a very good recent record at The Global Energy Stadium. Interim Manager Kevin Cuthbert made two changes from last weeks fine 4-0 victory over Forfar, with Kyle Benedictus and Lewis Vaughan returning in place of Nathan Flanagan and Liam Buchanan. County made five changes from the side that defeated Falkirk 2-0 the previous weekend. The Staggies marked their intent in the first minute with a great chance for former Rover Brian Graham who narrowly missed with a half volley. A minute later, Raith had a free kick from 30 yards and Vaughan went agonisingly close as his shot hit the top of the crossbar. The game was swinging from end to end and next up Sean Kelly had a great shot for the hosts that went narrowly wide and next Josh Mullin had a great chance after more fine play by the impressive Kelly. Rovers then went straight up the park and Chris Duggan had a speculative effort from 25 yards. After a free kick was conceded by Grant Gillespie, County's Davis Keillor-Dunn just missed from 25 yards out. You felt it was just a matter of time before the first goal and one minute later Graham opened the scoring with a volley from six yards in the 18th minute 1-0. The onslaught continued and after slack play out of defence from the Rovers, Mullen shot just past. Next up, Graham had another great chance from a corner, but his header was brilliantly saved by Wright for another corner. This time Graham would not miss a second time and netted from close range as the resultant corner was not cleared 2-0. The pressure was now relentless, and Graham was everywhere and just missed in the 35th minute with a flashing header. Two minutes later and it's that man again, this time his effort crashes off the base of the post but Jamie Lindsay followed up from close range to make it 3-0. Rovers lost their former striker Graham, who scored with another header from a corner to complete his hat trick, making the score 4-0 after 40 minutes. Just when the 50 or so Rovers supporters felt things couldn't get any worse, Graham again rose unchallenged to make it five and net his fourth of the day in the 42nd minute 5-0. The half time whistle couldn't come soon enough and when it did the Rovers team looked utterly shell-shocked. The second half started as the first ended with County on the front foot and the much-experienced Billy McKay went close with a shot into the side netting. In the 52nd minute, Ross County made their first change with Ross Stewart replacing the outstanding Brian Graham(delighted!!!!) It didn't take long for Stewart to get in on the act and he narrowly missed, heading over in the 56th minute. Rovers were now a bit tighter at the back with Wedderburn dropping back and providing much needed cover. In the 62nd minute Duggan had a great chance to pull one back but Munro makes a great save and the ball is cleared to safety. Vaughan was replaced by Lewis Milne in the 68th minute and more valuable game time for Lewis was clocked up on his comeback from his recent injury. The game was now starting to understandably fizzle out and Grant Gillespie received the first yellow card of the game after one illegal challenge too many. With six minutes remaining, Rovers made a double substitution with Berry and Valentine replacing Nisbet and Watson. One final piece of action came with a speculative overhead kick from Lindsay which Wright safely gathered. The final whistle was blown and Ross County progress through to the third round draw of the Irn Bru Cup, which will be made on Tuesday afternoon after an utterly dominant performance. From a Kirkcaldy point of view, there were not many positives to take today but the Rovers will not face many teams of the class played against today this season, and on this performance, County will be making a swift return to the Scottish Premiership.
Ross County
Manager	Steven Ferguson Stuart Kettlewell
Starting 11	21: Ross Munro, 3: Sean Kelly, 4: Liam Fontaine, 5: Callum Morris, 6: Ross Draper, 8: Jamie Lindsay 1, 9: Billy Mckay, 12: Stelios Demetriou, 14: Joshua Mullin, 17: Davis Keillor-Dunn, 19: Brian Graham 4
Bench	1: Scott Fox, 7: Michael Gardyne, 10: Declan Mcmanus, 11: Iain Vigurs, 22: Tony Dingwall, 26: Don Cowie (SNR), 27: Ross Stewart
Raith Rovers
Manager	Barry Smith
Starting 11	Kieran Wright, Jamie Watson, Euan Murray, Kyle Benedictus, David McKay, Grant Gillespie 1, Lewis Vaughan, Ross Matthews, Nathaniel Wedderburn, Kevin Nisbet, Chris Duggan
Bench	Euan Valentine, Lewis Milne, James Berry, R Thomson, R Stevenson, L Buchanan