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Ross County 2 Motherwell 1: Kettlewell laments "un-Motherwell like" display as side offer too little, too late

-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell felt his side put in an uncharacteristic performance as they suffered defeat in Dingwall at the hands of his old club Ross County.

Despite the game beating the weather amid a host of postponements across the country due to Storm Bert, kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes due to a VAR issue.

Motherwell fans were advised not to travel given the weather warnings in place and the 300 hardy souls who did make it to Dingwall will wish they hadn't bothered.

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There was little of note in a poor first half but the game came to life shortly after the interval with Ronan Hale slotting the ball home inside the box to give County the lead in the 47th minute.

And the hosts quickly doubled their advantage when Josh Nisbet netted with 54 minutes on the clock, leaving the Steelmen with an uphill battle.

Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell
Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell

Kettlewell responded by making two attacking double substitutions within the space of 12 minutes, bringing on Tawanda Maswanhise, Harry Paton, Moses Ebiye and Zach Robinson.

That paid off to some extent with Robinson heading home from Lennon Miller's brilliant free-kick delivery into the box to pull one back in 83 minutes.

The goal only stood after a lengthy VAR check, but it proved too little too late, even with 11 minutes of stoppage time played, leaving the Steelmen to travel back down the A9 empty-handed.

Kettlewell said: “We were pretty comfortable in the first half, albeit we could have fashioned more chances.

“The message at half time was to look for more risky passes and openings in their final third, but we didn’t quite execute that.

“The start of the second half irks me and it became a bit farcical with the stop-start nature of it.

"There was never a flow allowed to the game because of the fouls given, and staff and managers who naturally get frustrated were come after.

Ross County's Ronan Hale scores to make it 1-0 against Motherwell
Ross County's Ronan Hale scores to make it 1-0 against Motherwell

“County scored two good goals but we end up back at our goalkeeper when we could have asked questions of them.

“We spent 15 minutes at half time talking about trying to get beyond their press and we do exactly that but then refuse to do it in their final third.

“That makes it a little bit of a lottery. Their second goal is a bit of quality but we still need to deal with that bouncing ball and we don’t.

“We then become un-Motherwell like and that is our own doing by refusing positive passes and not trying to create chances.”

On the backing from supporters, Kettlewell added: “I thank the fans for their incredible effort in coming to support the team.

“I get that Ross County fans do it every other week, but we’re not in control of that.

“We got up north on Friday to try and prepare, and it was a battle, and at the end of it we can’t give supporters any notice for something we can’t make a call on.

“We wish the fans a safe journey back down the road, but who makes the call on it is probably the question. I don’t even know who you would speak to on that one.”

It is Motherwell's fifth defeat in 12 Premiership games this season and they remain fifth in the table. They now face Hibernian at Fir Park next Saturday.