Arbroath continued their unbeaten run to leave Ross County rooted to the bottom of the Championship table after a fine victory in Dingwall.
Jacob MacIntyre’s first half finish gave the Lichties the lead and despite some County pressure, the points were secured with Taylor Steven’s phenomenal finish late on making it 2-0 to the visitors.
The Lichties lineup showed two changes from the side that defeated Partick Thistle at a windswept Gayfield Park last Saturday. Victor Enem was in for his first league start in place of the suspended Craig Watson, while Jacob MacIntyre took the place of Ryan Dow who missed out with a knock.
It was County who had the majority of the play in the opening half an hour, but they failed to really trouble the Arbroath goal, with Gavin Reilly’s header off target at the other end the closest either side came.
That all changed on 33 minutes though as the Lichties took the lead. Steven’s flick set Enem on his way down the right and his deflected cross fell kindly to MacIntyre who took his time to get the ball under control before finding the bottom corner.
Both sides had chances to find the game’s second goal soon after with Jay Henderson dragging a shot wide from distance, before Tam O’Brien found himself unmarked in the middle to fire the ball over the bar.
County had a glorious chance to level five minutes before half time when Ronan Hale found himself bearing down on goal, but his goalbound effort was brilliantly deflected over the top by the toe of Aidan McAdams to keep Arbroath ahead at the interval.
The Staggies looked for an equaliser straight from the off as Ryan Duncan found some space on the edge of the area, but the Aberdeen loanee could only slice his strike high off target. He had an even better chance minutes later when he was found in space on the left of the box, once again however, his effort was wide.
Brooklyn Kabongolo got his first goals for the club last time out on the road at Dunfermline, and he went in search of an unlikely third with a fantastic overhead kick attempt that was kept out by Trevor Carson.
Chances continued to come at both ends and County really should have been level on 74 minutes, with Jordan White somehow glancing his header wide from a free kick, while almost immediately at the other end, Steven flashed a strike narrowly past.
The points were secured seven minutes from time though as Steven finally found a way past Carson. Picking the ball up on the right-hand side, the winger drove past Declan Gallagher before cutting inside and bending a cracker into the top corner of the net.
Ross County: Carson; Randall, Gallagher, Iacovitti (Smith, 79), O’Sullivan; Lindsay, Docherty (Fraser, 84); Henderson (Scott, 84), Duncan (Mackay-Steven, 75), Hale (Phillips, 84); White
Arbroath: McAdams; Enem, Kabongolo, O’Brien, Wilkie; Cochrane, Flynn; Steven (Muirhead, 89), Marshall (Pettifer, 90), MacIntyre (Mebude, 84); Reilly (Todorov, 84)
Attendance: 2,653 (177 Arbroath)
