Date	Saturday, 29 October 2016
Competition	Scottish Premiership
Fixture/Score	Motherwell 4:1 Ross County
Venue	Fir Park
Attendance	3,177
Referee	Nick Walsh
Comments	Match Report Report from the BBC. Motherwell 4 Ross County 1 Motherwell condemned Ross County to a ninth Premiership game without a win as they thumped the visitors at Fir Park. Scott McDonald headed home Lionel Ainsworth's free-kick early on before Louis Moult's strike deflected in off County defender Kenny van der Weg. Right-back Richard Tait hammered the third past County keeper Scott Fox and Ainsworth went past two defenders before rounding Fox for the fourth. Alex Schalk's late strike was little consolation for the Highlanders. They have not won in the league since 20 August, and slip to 11th place after shipping four goals for a third time in four games as Well moved up to ninth after ending a run of three straight defeats. Before the game manager Mark McGhee was adamant Motherwell's form had been good despite three defeats, a view backed up by side's bright start. Ainsworth flighted a simple free-kick from the right flank in the eighth minute which McDonald headed home. Questions have to be asked of the County defending, given the Australian striker is hardly a huge aerial threat. From there Motherwell played some neat passing football with plenty of confidence. Eventually they got their reward. Moult drove into the box and his cutback was bundled into his own net by County left-back Van Der Weg. Tait then made it 3-0 after a surging run down the right and a near-post shot that seemed to deceive County keeper Fox. When you look at the names on the Ross County teamsheet, it is hard to see why scoring goals - Schalk's was only their third in those nine win-less games - has been such an issue. Chris Burke, Liam Boyce, Ryan Dow, Michael Gardyne. There should be plenty of goals given that sort of personnel. County should at least be creating more chances. Right now there appears to be a huge lack of confidence in the final third. One bright spot was substitute Schalk, who looked lively when he came on and scored with a good low finish. Consistency may be a factor, but when he is on song Motherwell winger Ainsworth can make a real difference in the Premiership. His pace is electric and terrifies the life out of defenders, his delivery is decent and he has tricky feet. He rounded the keeper for the fourth goal just after the hour as both he and Motherwell were flying. Motherwell boss Mark McGhee: "It rates up there with the best that we've produced this season. "On Wednesday night [3-0 defeat to Inverness] we were the ones to get a bit of a doing. Today it was Ross County. And they'll do that to somebody else. That is the nature of this league. "We see Lionel Ainsworth in training, and week in, week out he produces some brilliant stuff. He's not always produced as much as he should out there in the games. Today he was brilliant. If he plays like that he won't be out of the team." Ross County boss Jim McIntyre: "Simply not good enough. We actually started the game quite well but then a free-kick comes into the box and we simply don't deal with it. "We are not happy where we are. But equally we know a couple of results will change things around again. "We have got Rangers next Sunday, we'll get rested up and then put in plenty of work in to try and rectify the performances."
Ross County
Manager	Jim McIntyre
Starting 11	1: Scott Fox, 2: Marcus Fraser, 7: Michael Gardyne, 8: Martin Woods, 9: Ryan Dow, 10: Liam Boyce, 15: Andrew Davies, 18: Ian McShane, 22: Christopher Burke, 28: Kenny Van der Weg 1, 43: Paul Quinn 1
Bench	31: Aaron McCarey, 3: Erik Cikos, 4: Christopher Routis, 5: James McEveley, 11: Craig Curran, 12: Timothy Chow, 23: Alex Schalk 1
Motherwell
Manager	Mark McGhee
Starting 11	Craig Samson, Richard Tait 1, Ben Heneghan, Stephen McManus, Jack McMillan, Lionel Ainsworth 1, Chris Cadden, Lee Lucas, Craig Clay, Louis Moult, Scott McDonald
Bench	Ryan Bowman, Dean Brill, Kieran Kennedy, Jacob Blyth, David Ferguson, Allan Campbell, Ross MacLean