Date	Saturday, 15 February 2014
Competition	Scottish Premiership
Fixture/Score	Hibernian 2:1 Ross County
Venue	Easter Road
Attendance	8,411
Referee	Bobby Madden
Comments	Match Report Report by Brian McLauchlin for the BBC. Hibernian 2 Ross County 1 Hibernian moved to within a point of sixth-place St Johnstone after a thrilling Scottish Premiership win over Ross County. Youngster Sam Stanton opened the scoring with a well struck free-kick. And recent signing Danny Haynes set up Tom Taiwo to fire the hosts' second midway through the first half. Captain Richie Brittain reduced County's deficit with a free-kick of his own but despite continued pressure the visitors could not draw level. And that meant Hibs claimed their first win in six matches and ended a run of four straight defeats. County remain third-bottom, the gap over basement side Hearts reduced to 16 points. Hibs began the match with a real spurt and Haynes was first to try his luck on goal only to see his effort drift just wide of the target. However, the home side deservedly took the lead after teenager Stanton was brought down by Rocco Quinn around 25 yards from goal. The challenge by Quinn brought the County midfielder a yellow card but they were further punished when Stanton scored from the free-kick, bending the ball around the wall into the top corner. The Staggies thought were almost back on level terms when a header by Evangelos Ikonomou bounced off the top of the crossbar twice before the home defence were able to clear. And Hibs soon increased their lead. Haynes, who was making his first start since joining on loan from Notts County, sent a cross in from the right that was met by Taiwo and the midfielder made no mistake from eight yards out. Terry Butcher's side thought they had scored a third goal after the break when Haynes glanced a header towards goal that hit the inside of the post before keeper Mark Brown clawed the ball away. Hibs players were claiming the ball was over the line but referee Bobby Madden allowed play to continue. And within minutes County had clawed their way back into the game. Brittain curled a free-kick from 25 yards around the defensive wall that Ben Williams got a hand to but failed to keep out. It was now the turn of Derek Adams' side to press but, unlike Hibs, they could not get a second goal. Ross County manager Derek Adams claimed Hibs grabbed an undeserved 2-1 win at Easter Road. Richard Brittain's free-kick was not enough to cancel out Sam Stanton and Tom Taiwo's early second half goals. "Overall I think we should have won the game. The least we should have got out of it was a draw," he told BBC Scotland. "We certainly shouldn't have lost the game. We'll not get a better opportunity than we did today." With Kilmarnock, St Mirren and Partick Thistle all dropping points, a win would have done wonders for County's chances of avoiding the relegation play-offs, however Adams felt they handed the three points to their hosts. "In the first half we've gifted Hibernian a two-goal start. I thought it was a soft free-kick we gave away in the first instance and then they score from it," he said. "The second one we have to do better on the by-line and stop the ball getting across. Hibs are 2-0 up without doing anything. "We started the game very well and created a lot of opportunities. Hitting the bar, working the goalkeeper, and probably missing a number of gilt edged chances. "We controlled large spells of the game and put a lot of pressure on Hibernian. "We have to come here and win. Teams like this you have to win against, ones that are in the bottom half of the table."
Ross County
Manager	Derek Adams
Starting 11	1: Mark Brown, 2: Erik Cikos, 8: Richard Brittain 1, 10: Rocco Quinn 1, 12: Michael Tidser, 21: Brian McLean, 23: Graham Carey, 25: Jordan Slew, 26: Evangelos Oikonomou, 27: Yoann Arquin, 28: Yann Songo'o
Bench	42: Sean McCarthy, 3: Benjamin Gordon, 4: Stuart Kettlewell, 5: Scott Boyd, 15: Gary Glen, 16: Alex Cooper, 19: Kevin Luckassen
Hibernian
Manager	Terry Butcher
Starting 11	Ben Williams, Jordan Forster, Michael Nelson, Paul Hanlon, Ryan McGivern, Danny Handling, Tom Taiwo 1, Lewis Stevenson, Alex Harris, Danny Haines, Sam Stanton 1
Bench	Paul Grant, James Collins, Alan Maybury, Paul Heffernan, Paul Cairney, Daniel Boateng, Jason Cummings