Date	Saturday, 26 September 2026
Competition	KDM Evolution Trophy
Fixture/Score	Ross County 14:0 Heart of Midlothian (B)
Venue	Global Energy Stadium at Victoria Park
Referee	Joel Kennedy
Ross County
Manager	Stuart (Ketts) Kettlewell
Starting 11	1: Bradley Foster, 3: Lewis Strapp, 4: Akil Wright, 6: Connor Randall, 11: Kieran Phillips 5, 15: Dylan Smith, 16: Chris Hamilton 3, 17: Ricco Diack 3 (1 pen), 19: Luke McCarvel 2, 22: Adam Emslie, 23: Ross Docherty
Bench	21: Jayden Reid, 5: Lewis Reid, 7: Richard Chin, 8: Dean Cornelius, 9: Brian Graham, 10: Jamie Lindsay 1, 18: Andrew MacLeod, 20: Jack Turner, 28: Jamie Williamson
Heart of Midlothian (B)
Manager	Angus Beith
Starting 11	Aiden Duncan, Cormac Daly, Sinan Kaharevic, Robbie Flockhart 1, Jayden Mathie, Carson McGauley, Tommy North, Alfie Wilson, Euan Glasgow, Connor Dow, Jaedon Donkor
Bench	Harry Willox, Findlay Buchanan, Daniel McCandless, Dexter Lawrie
Attendance
Match Report	Ross County Goal Scorers: Kieran Phillips (3' 7' 16' 45+1' 50') Ricco Diack (26' 44' 56' Pen.) Luke McCarvel (65' 74') Jamie Lindsay (68') Chris Hamilton (72' 75' 87') Ross County Substitutions: Jack Turner for Ross Docherty (45') Richard Chin for Adam Emslie (45') Jamie Lindsay for Lewis Strapp (54') Jamie Williamson for Akil Wright (64') Brian Graham for Ricco Diack (64') Heart of Midlothian (B) Substitutions: Harry Willox for Sinan Kaharevic (62') Findlay Buchanan for Jaedon Donkor (83') Heart of Midlothian (B) Red Card: Robbie Flockhart (34') Report by Andrew Henderson for the Ross-shire Journal. Ross County 14 Heart of Midlothian (B) 0 Stuart Kettlewell was more than happy to wax lyrical about Ross County’s after their record-breaking 14-0 win over Hearts B – but he also cautioned that there are still ways the Staggies can improve. A dominant performance in Dingwall propelled County to record heights against the young Jambos, with Kieran Phillips scoring five, Ricco Diack and Chris Hamilton scoring hat-tricks, Luke McCarvel bagging a brace and Jamie Lindsay also getting in on the act. That was enough to surpass the club’s previous record high win, which was 11-0 in a Scottish Cup tie against St Cuthbert Wanderers in December 1993. Although today’s match was something of a mismatch, particularly after Hearts B were reduced to 10 men in the first half, Kettlewell was delighted with the ruthless streak his players showed just 11 days after an 8-0 thumping of Queen of the South in league action. As ever, though, he will not be letting his squad get carried away, with missed chances meaning the margin of victory could have been even higher. "It's a competitive game, goals and assists and all that kind of stuff counts, so I can only wax lyrical about my team,” Kettlewell said. "The sending off obviously hurts Hearts and makes life really tough for them, but our job is not to stand there and feel sorry for anybody – it's to score as many goals as we can. "I said it after the Queen of the South game too, and to a man I thought we were excellent from what was asked of them. I'm not surprised about that, because we've seen it time and again since the start of the season. "Obviously it seems like a bizarre scenario. People around the country will look at it and see we're playing well and scoring goals so I pat the players on the back for that, but next week will bring a different challenge. "Anybody that sits here and pats each other on the back and thinks they have achieved anything is in the wrong place. We have a lot of strides to go before we get to where we want to be. "The record was not really something we were focusing on. We were actually a little bit wasteful in the first half – which sounds ridiculous when we've scored 14 goals, but we missed four or five guilt-edged chances. "We wanted to make sure our conversion rate in the second half was really high, and you can see we're a threat down both sides of the pitch. "Our strikers are a real threat, and we're pitching in with goals from midfield, so it puts us in a decent position.” The only real negative to come out of the game from a County point of view was an injury to Lewis Strapp in the second half that forced him off the pitch. "He has obviously taken a heavy knock, and then he felt it in the side of his stomach a little bit,” Kettlewell continued. "We will have to wait and see, but it was another day where he set the tone for everything we do. "There were so many good performances, but Lewis always feels like the guy who gets the tempo of the game up and puts a snap into everything we're doing. "He has been first-class since he came into the football club, so hopefully it's nothing too serious." Such a heavy defeat could have a damaging effect on Hearts’ youngsters. While that was not Kettlewell’s immediate concern, with his passion for youth development he insisted the result was not reflective of the young talent in the set-up at Tynecastle. "This won't define their careers, or what the next step is in their time in football, far from it,” Kettlewell added. "We treated the competition with respect, and treated Hearts with the utmost respect. We didn't rub anybody's nose in it, which I feel like I see time and time again in football now. "All of ours lads spoke to their players afterwards, and myself and Stephen Frail – who are so passionate about youth development – make a beeline for their players. "They have to take the lessons out of this, of course they do, but with youth you have resilience. “I just feel that sometimes these types of situations can be a catalyst for players. Nobody wants to lose 14-0, but our players were right on form today. "Hearts will have learned aspects of the game they could absolutely do better at, but they also have some good players in there. “There were a couple who certainly caught my eye with what they did, which might sound a bit silly when we scored double figures, but I don't know that that's a fair reflection on their young players. These guys are talented, and they will absolutely live to fight another day."