Ross County got their new Premiership season off to a flying start with Ross Stewart’s penalty seeing off Motherwell 1-0 at Victoria Park.
Stewart struck after 24 minutes with a goal which proved decisive, with Motherwell spurning a spot kick of their own when Liam Donnelly struck wide on 74 minutes.
The victory gets Stuart Kettlewell off to a winning start in sole charge, with Hamilton Accies awaiting the Staggies at New Douglas Park in their next game on Saturday.
Although Motherwell threatened early on through Chris Long’s free kick, which the striker blasted over the bar from the edge of the box, it was County who began to enjoy the better chances as the first half wore on.
Their best early chance fell to Ross Stewart, who saw a thundering strike tipped on to the crossbar by Trevor Carson after being picked out by Lee Erwin’s flick on 11 minutes.
Stewart was handed the perfect chance to open his account for the new season on 24 minutes though, after Declan Gallagher tripped the onrushing Harry Paton inside the box. After Nick Walsh pointed to the spot, Stewart stepped up and made no mistake with an effort which nestled high in the net.
Although County had enjoyed a fine start they could have lost their lead within just two minutes when Long was denied by the post after running through on goal.
Motherwell made a decent start to the second half, with substitute Callum Lang causing the Staggies problems. Lang firstly sent a header over the bar early in the second half, before forcing Ross Laidlaw into action for the first time in the game with another header on 64 minutes.
The Staggies survived a let-off on 74 minutes after Walsh had pointed to the spot in Motherwell’s favour, adjudging that Jordan White had been taken down by Coll Donaldson, however Donnelly was unable to hit the target with his low penalty which trundled wide.
Motherwell’s chances were virtually ended three minutes from time, with Lang shown a red card on his debut after catching Michael Gardyne with a late challenge.
