Ross County 2
Hearts 2
League (Premiership)


Ross County
2 - 2
Hearts 

League (Premiership)
Saturday, September 18th, 2021
Global Energy Stadium, Dingwall. Att. 3,802
3:00 PM Kick-off

Goalscorers
Blair Spittal (10)
Blair Spittal (45)
Liam Boyce (9)
Stephen Kingsley (66)

Team Managers
Malky Mackay
Robbie Neilson

Starting Eleven
31. Ashley Maynard-Brewer
5. Jack Baldwin
16. Alex Iacovitti
22. Jordan Tillson
6. Harry Paton
17. Regan Charles-Cook
18. Jack Burroughs
7. Blair Spittal
24. Ben Paton
8. Ross Callachan
26. Jordan White
1 Craig Gordon
4 John Souttar
15 Taylor Moore
19 Craig Halkett
3 Stephen Kingsley
6 Beni Baningime
9 Ben Woodburn
18 Barrie McKay
10 Liam Boyce
11 Gary Mackay-Steven
21 Armand Gnanduillet

Bench
1. Ross Laidlaw
15. Keith Watson
4. David Cancola
11. Alex Robertson
23. Joseph Hungbo
10. Dominic Samuel
9. Alex Samuel
5 Peter Haring
7 Jamie Walker
8 Aaron McEneff
13 Ross Stewart
14 Cameron Devlin
16 Andrew Halliday
17 Alex Cochrane

Substitutions
Alex Robertson for Blair Spittal (56)
Keith Watson for Ross Callachan (83)
Joseph Hungbo for Regan Charles-Cook (89)
Cameron Devlin for Gary Mackay-Steven (56)
Jamie Walker for Ben Woodburn (65)

Cautions
Ben Paton (64)
Jack Baldwin (72)
Ben Woodburn (42)

Red Cards
None. None.
Match Officials

David Dickinson (Referee)




Match Report


Source unknown.

Ross County and Heart of Midlothian played out an exhilarating 2-2 draw at the Global Energy Stadium on matchday six of the 2021/22 cinch Premiership season.

Ex-Staggie Liam Boyce fired the visitors ahead before a double from skipper Blair Spittal reversed the 1-goal advantage in favour of Ross County.

However, a special free kick from Stephen Kingsley levelled the tie as both sides went on to miss golden opportunities to clinch a victory in the closing stages of the match.

County passed up the first chance to take lead when Scotland number 1 Craig Gordon uncharacteristically almost gifted the home side an opener. His skewed right-footed clearance landed at the feet of Ross Callachan on the edge of the box, but the former Jambo’s resulting attempt curled back into the thankful arms of the scrambling Craig Gordon.

In the 9th minute, the visitors took the lead through ex-Staggie Liam Boyce. The Northern Irish international received the ball on the left-hand side of the box from Gary Mackay-Steven before his left-footed attempt was deflected into the near-corner by Jack Baldwin.

However, just a minute later, County responded with an immediate equaliser! A fine team move directly from kick off got the ball into Jordan White’s feet on the edge of the area, but the striker was swarmed by 3 alert defenders. White did not rush a shot but instead held off his opponents and set the ball back to Blair Spittal who then magnificently lasered the ball into the bottom left corner from 20 yards out.

After County’s swift reply, Hearts stepped up their efforts in pursuit of a second goal and had 3 opportunities in quick succession to reinstate their lead.

Barrie McKay got himself inside of Ben Paton on the right flank and burst inwards towards goal. Hearts’ new signing arguably overthought his chance to score and delayed his shot allowing Jack Baldwin to get across and block the winger’s eventual attempt.

Shortly after, Ashley Maynard-Brewer pulled out two fantastic saves to twice deny Armand Gnanduillet. The Australian loanee produced a big left hand to consecutively foil both a header and a half-volley from the Ivorian.

After a period of Hearts dominance, the Staggies picked up their efforts to shift the momentum of play in their favour towards the end of the first half.

In the 36th minute, Jordan White missed the ball to convert from a Ross Callachan cutback and Callachan himself saw his sliding volley from inside the six-yard box lift over the bar 2 minutes later.

On the stroke of half time, County’s late first half ascendancy was rewarded when captain Blair Spittal doubled his goal tally for the day. Regan Charles-Cook’s excellent footwork allowed the Grenadian international to lift the ball over the leg of Benny Baningame before lifting his head to pick out Spittal. The captain then swept home the cutback with his left foot to crucially give County the advantage seconds before the interval.

The visitors were struggling to find their rhythm at the beginning of the second half, but they did create a great chance on the hour mark. Stephen Kingsley’s inviting whipped cross was met by Liam Boyce at the back post, but his stretching volley flew over the crossbar from close range.

On the 66th minute, the Jambos pinched an equaliser out of nowhere. Stephen Kingsley stepped up to sink a delightful free kick into the top left corner from a central position around 25 yards from goal. After a lethargic opening 20 mins of the second half from the visitors, Kingsley’s moment of magic lifted the away fans and revitalised Robbie Neilson’s side.

Hearts didn’t see another clear sight of goal until the 79th minute when Jamie Walker spun Alex Iacovitti and cannoned the bouncing ball goalward. Walker’s thunderous strike was saved again by Ashley Maynard-Brewer who had to receive treatment on his wrist as a consequence of his heroic stop.

After 10 minutes of relentless defending, the Staggies actually came closest to snatching a winner when Jordan White and Joe Hungbo missed their opportunities to win maximum points in the 93rd minute. Substitute Hungo’s left-footed effort from the left of the box looked as though it had won the game but John Souttar’s game-saving sliding clearance prevented a first County goal for loanee. Jordan White then failed to convert the subsequent rebound from a few yards out as he blazed his left-footed reaction shot into the Jail End stand.


*Match report courtesy of Ross County Football Club*.



Squad Statistics (as at September 18th, 2021)


2021/22 All Time
Age
Ashley Maynard-Brewer (GK)22 1 - 1 -
Jack Baldwin28 3 - 3 -
Alex Iacovitti24 72496
Harry Paton23 6 - 764
Jordan Tillson28 8 - 52 -
Ross Callachan28 8 - 8 -
Ben Paton21 3 - 3 -
Blair Spittal25 84439
Jack Burroughs20 3 - 3 -
Regan Charles-Cook24 61383
Jordan White29 82216
Keith Watson (sub)31 7 - 893
Alex Robertson (sub)18 3 - 3 -
Joseph Hungbo (sub)21 2 - 2 -






League Table (as at September 18th, 2021)


No league table has been added for this season.