Ross County hold on to beat Motherwell

A blazing start to the second half for Ross County lit up the Global Energy Stadium before they held on to defeat Motherwell 2-1 in freezing conditions.

Goals from Ronan Hale and Josh Nisbet within 10 minutes of the restart gave the Staggies a strong lead and, for the most part, they looked comfortable as they tried to hold on for three points.

Zach Robinson did put a spanner in the works in the 83rd minute when he headed in to pull one back for the visitors but it was not enough for Motherwell to salvage a point from their trip north.

On a day where several matches across the UK were called off or delayed because of snowy conditions, it took a while for the game to heat up in Dingwall.

Multiple early stoppages for players requiring treatment did not help matters and it was midway through the half before either side had a sight of goal.

Motherwell went close from a couple of free kicks without testing Ross Laidlaw, while Hale had a speculative long-range effort at the other end that went wide of the mark.

Noah Chilvers did force a good save out of Motherwell stopper Aston Oxborough just after the half-hour mark though, turning well into space on the corner of the visiting box and powering an effort goalwards.

Shortly before the interval, similarly impressive footwork from Ewan Wilson teed up Steve Seddon to take aim at goal, forcing Laidlaw to parry the ball to safety.

It did not take long into the second half for the deadlock to be broken though, when Chilvers’ ball into the box was deflected into the feet of Hale in the 47th minute.

The summer signing was able to adjust his body well to turn towards goal and coolly slotted into the bottom corner for his eighth goal of the campaign.

Seven minutes later, the hosts went two goals ahead.

The ball came to Nisbet on the edge of the box from a corner kick and he skipped past one challenge before firing into the back of the net – with a little help from the inside of the post.

There was to be some late drama though as Motherwell cut the deficit in half in the 83rd minute when Robinson headed in from Lennon Miller’s free kick.

However, County stood up to the challenge of holding on to their lead, claiming all three points when the final whistle was blown after 10 minutes of added time.